


The Line to follow

by gywiggy



Category: Naruto
Genre: Fix-It, M/M, Minor Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Third Shinobi War, Sakumo saved, Self conscious Sen about his scars, Sen abandon his past identity, Slow Burn, Time Travel, Time-traveler Obito is Sen, aloof Sen who would open up slowly, preventing shinobi war, two Obitos
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:21:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 40,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24073621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gywiggy/pseuds/gywiggy
Summary: He felt himself dying during the fight with Kaguya, but Obito woke up in the past instead, probably thanks to his Kamui. He chooses to give up his name and his identity to prevent the Third Shinobi War and other disastrous events to happen, making this world a better place. Obito became an efficient Anbu known as Sen that nobody ever saw without his mask.Everything will change on the night he met Sakumo to stop his suicide attempt.The aloof and mysterious Anbu will find people that care about him and realize he didn't completely discard his emotions[I will try to make a better summary, sorry]
Relationships: Hatake Sakumo & Uchiha Obito & Hatake Kakashi, Hatake Sakumo/Uchiha Obito
Comments: 75
Kudos: 466





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [By dawn we'll have our Wings](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11893743) by [LadyKG](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyKG/pseuds/LadyKG). 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a big fan of Naruto's fix-it and time travel's fics and Obito is my favorite character. I just can't accept how he died!!  
> I ended up finding by luck "By dawn we'll have our Wings" and I had a revelation. It would make so much sense for an adult time-traveler's Obito to meet Sakumo and find the man charming!
> 
> Anyway... I started a draft and with the covid 19 containment it ended getting bigger. So now that I checked and saw I have a 99 pages' word file, I thought why not post it? I tried to make it as conform as possible to the Naruto world's characteristics, but I'm sure I can't be accurate and precise as I want (and I have to change a bit the age and date of some events to fit my story). So be indulgent 
> 
> So, here you go, hope you enjoy and sorry if you see any mistakes (english is not my mother tongue)!

Sakumo was sitting on the ground in the darkness of his living room, a kunai in hand. It was late in the night and Kakashi was already fast asleep, so Sakumo took his time to… think. He thought about what he did, how he thought he was doing the right thing, but was clearly the only one thinking that way. He thought about hoe people called him, some behind his back while other directly to his face; all the slanders. He thought about his son, little Kakashi that even if he was only 6 years old, was too smart for his age. Thought about what people would say to him for being his son, how others will treat him for believing he will be like his father. Studying the kunai in his hand, Sakumo wondered.

That would be the easiest solution.

It would solve every problem.

Having made up his mind and feeling so exhausted, Sakumo closed his eyes and took with both hands the kunai that he placed over his heart. Just as he was sending a small prayer for his son, he felt something hit him hard on the temple that made him fell on the ground. A bit disoriented, it took him a moment to realize that someone was sitting on his stomach and holding him by the collar of his flak jacket. As his vision stopped to blur, he recognized the mask the person wore above him. Anbu, though not the standard animal one he was used to see on Anbus. This one was blank, at the exception of the two almond-shaped eyes and the black line that divided the mask vertically in its center.

"What are you doing? How dare you!" The Anbu screamed the last part and planted Sakumo's kunai on the floor, right next to his head. Hatake blinked on the ground, not knowing what to say nor what was going on. "So that's it? I had such high expectations for you! Proud to see that someone else would realize that a life is more important than a mission or a damn scroll. I would have wished that someone had done that when-!"

Suddenly, the Anbu's mask chattered as a shuriken hit it from the side. As the pieces were falling, faster than lightening, the Anbu took back the kunai he planted on the ground but froze when his eyes landed on his attacker. Meanwhile, Sakumo's eyes widened as the masked man's face slowly revealed before his eyes. The person was a man, around his mind twenties. His hair was as white as snow, not something common on someone that young. The right side of his face was marred with a tremendous amount of scars while the left was smooth. But even though the scars were impressive, the eyes were what surprised the most. The left one was a red Sharingan while the other was a Dojutsu he had never seen before and barely heard about. The purple eye with multiple black rings was unique and easily identified as the Rinnegan. Sakumo didn't know what to say as he noticed tears spilling from both those impressive eyes.

"Get away from my dad!" a high pitched voice screamed and Hatake instantly recognized his son's voice. Kakashi was standing by the door of the room, a glare firmly in place as he held high another shuriken in his hand in a menacingly way.

Sakumo then felt something being slapped down on his chest and looked back at the white-haired man sitting on him. This one bent down and nearly snarled at his face as tears continued to slide down his cheeks down to Sakumo's face. "Pull. Yourself. Together." Then the Anbu disappeared, leaving only as proofs of his presence fragments of a white mask and teardrops on his face. As Sakumo sat up, he felt his kunai drop down his chest from where it had been put. He took it as Kakashi launched to hug him and hid his face in his neck to hide his tears.

The oldest Hatake put back his son in bed, as Kakashi was only five and needed his hours of sleep. It took a while to reassure his kid, but eventually Kakashi fell back to sleep. On his bed, Sakumo inspected the kunai he had nearly used to end his life. He was impressed to see indent of fingers on the handle and watched the marks with fascination.

Who was this man and why did he look so committed in Sakumo?

Well, he would need to find info.

:------------------------------------------------------:

Obito was fuming, wiping the angry tears from his eyes as he jumped from roof to roof, too fast for anybody to get a clear sight of his face, but right now not giving a damn on who could see him. He wanted to get the furthest away in the forest to let his anger free. Once far enough for his chakra to not be detected, he used his Mokuton and taijutsu to destroy part of the forest and giant rocks nearby. When everything was in splinters, he cast the Great Fireball technique to burn everything and used then Mokuton to grow trees back and let the place as it was before his passage.

He used Kamui to get back one of his spare mask that he stored there and went to the Hokage's tower. It was late, but he was sure that the Third would be there, working on paperwork.

How could this have happened? He had been so sure that he had managed to change that fate by telling the Third Hokage about what would happen to Sakumo Hatake if nothing was done about the slanders. He was lucky to have come check on the day he knew the other would commit suicide or an important person would have lost his life to this faulty system.

It had been a couple of years since he had come back in time, after the fight the five nations had with Kaguya. He didn't exactly know how he had ended in the past, but he remembered, as he was about to die with Naruto supplying him chakra to keep him alive when his body was slowly turning to dust, that he tried one last attack. He used his Mangekyo to pull at least Black Zetsu in his Kamui, wanting to pull the pest in his dimension to at least take one of their enemies to the grave with him. It didn't work and his body crumbled in pieces as he continued to try and then… everything went black. When he slowly regained his consciousness, he thought he would wake in the Pure Land but to his surprise, he was in the forest near Konoha. What was his surprise, to be brought to T&I and have the Hokage standing before him none other Hiruzen Sarutobi. After some coaxing, he managed to get a date and what was his surprise again to realize that he had jumped into the past, at a time before the third shinobi world war happened. He requested an audience with the Hokage and no one else listening. It took him a lot of perseverance but, with the proof that he was a real Uchiha after deactivating his Sharingan and some details knew only to someone living in the village, he managed to get the Hokage alone. He told him then that he was from the future and had apparently jumped in time while using Mangekyo as he was dying. The old man wasn't convinced at first, but after calling a Yamanaka to see in his mind, Obito managed to bring forward enough proofs hat what he said was true while hiding the darker part of his role in Akatsuki and the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Since then, he had worked in the Anbu, trying to prevent the war that was looming the best he could. It earned him the trust of Sarutobi and his help when there was event he tried to prevent. It was on purpose that he didn't interfere with the mission that Sakumo went on. The man was a hero and wanted the people to see that too. He wanted to make his transgression an example to follow for the future, so people would see that the lives of shinobis were worth more than a failed mission. He even managed to make the Hokage see his point of view and promise that he would help Hatake to be seen in a more positive light. It would seem that he had put too much trust in what the old man would do.

"Hokage," said Obito once he appeared in the chief's office. "I request an urgent meeting with you." With those words, he pulled Sarutobi to his dimension and disappeared himself as he felt a sudden spike of chakra from the Anbus posted all around the office.

Once in the dimension, Hiruzen let out a long sigh. "You know, even if I'm used by now of you doing this each time, it would be great if you could wait for me to agree before you use your Kamui on me."

"I prevented Hatake Sakumo from committing suicide a couple hours ago." Obito informed as he removed his mask. "You were supposed to do something about this!"

Hiruzen blinked at hearing the information. "I… didn't knew he would go this far, truly."

"You knew he is an important man and shinobi for this village. He is a master piece to turn this world into a better place! The shinobi he saved would turn valuable to the future. Do you realize we could achieve now what would have taken twenty more years on my time?" Obito could barely restrain the snarl that reached his lips. He mustn't attack that man, no matter what. He needed his help, to make him an ally, no matter how stubborn he was to approve the changes Obito wanted.

"I tried my best." Hiruzen said with a frown on his face. "I can't force people to change how they think."

"You managed to force an entire village to keep secrecy on the existence of the new Jinchuriki on my time, for more than twelve years. Your words are law. How is that any difference?" Obito continued to restrain himself of giving the man a piece of his mind about what he really thought of his incompetence.

The Hokage grimaced at that piece of information. "It's not technically the same…" he defended himself.

"I'm doing my best right now to prevent the third shinobi world war, or at least keep the less animosity between Konoha and the other villages. I will make sure the attack of the Kyubi that would destroy the village and cost the life of your successor will never happen. I will see that the criminal organization knew as Akatsuki will never turn into something that want the destruction of the world. And right now, I'm trying to make this village a better place. The cost of a none vital mission shouldn't be at the price of shinobis that could achieve hundreds of others. We need to value the lives of our men because, no matter how hard I try, a world war doesn't have its fate resting on one village and I can't assure that we alone could manage to prevent other villages to get in war. If this happen, we shouldn't have to put barely-promoted kids to go on the front line because we didn't manage to spare the lives of full-fledged shinobis. Do you see were I'm coming?"

Hiruzne grimaced at those words. "… I do. But the choice doesn't rest on my shoulders alone. I have to consult the council too."

"You are the leader of this village. It's your job to care for the people of this village. Put on your side the majority of the council, make them see the value of the lives of all this people who would gladly sacrifice themselves for the wellbeing of this village. We need to change or we are running to our demise." At those words, Obito put back his mask and brought them both back to the Hokage's office. Hiruzen blinked as he found himself back on his seat but stayed silent. "Now, I would like to request you to pull Hatake out of mission for some time, to give him time rest and get back his mental stability." Obito bowed his head as Anbus all around the office appeared.

With a wave of his hand, the Hokage dismissed them and address the time-traveler. "Agreed. I will convoke him tomorrow. You are dismissed."

Obito took the dismiss and disappeared from the office. He hoped this would work. Right now, he had to go to the Land of Water and find the Sanbi to make sure it didn't get captured by Kiri. His objective was to prevent any more Biju to get captured and sealed. He hoped that he would manage to find Isubo quickly and that it would cooperative.

:------------------------------------------------:

Sakumo was surprised to be convoked the next day by the Hokage. He was even more surprised when this one ordered him to take a few months of paid vacation so he could take care of his son. But what blown his mind was what his leader told him at the end.

"Sakumo. I wanted you to know that you have nothing to be ashamed for. You did take the right call by saving your team. You saved fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, siblings and loved ones from death and they are all precious shinobis of this village. No matter what others said, you did right and I thank you for this."

Sakumo's eyes widened as the Hokage bowed to him. He then closed his eyes as relief flooded him. "Your words meant a lot to me, Hokage. Thank you."

As he made his way back, the silver-haired man couldn't help but wonder if this was the doing of that mysterious Anbu that prevented him to do the biggest mistake of his life. It just couldn't be a coincidence. Kakashi was delighted to learn that his father would stay stationed for the time being. He made him promise to train him every day when he came back from the academy. Sakumo was more than happy to indulge him. As he stayed home alone, he couldn't help but wonder who the mysterious Anbu he met was. From as long as he knew, Uchihas always had black hair and eyes. If there had been one with a different color, such as white, there should be at least rumors about it. With the Sharingan, Sakumo had no doubt that his mysterious Anbu was an Uchiha, for he doubted the clan would let anyone outside their family get away with a transplanted Dojutsu without making a scandal.

With free time to spend when Kakashi was at the academy, Sakumo went to try finding out who that white-haired, Sharingan-user Anbu was.

It took him three weeks, but he eventually come up with a name. Or at least a code name. He tried at first to ask the few Uchihas he knew if they were aware of w white-haired man with only a Sharingan in the right eye. None knew anyone of that description in their family and thought that Sakumo may have seen wrong and confused reddish-brown eyes with a Sharingan. Then he asked many of his fellow shinobi if they knew an Anbu with white hair and a Sharingan, but none did. He then tried a few Anbus he knew and one knew who he was talking about.

"Oh, you are talking about Sen." The man said as they were both eating dangos at a shop in their casual clothes.

"Sen?" Sakumo asked.

"Yeah, we call him like that since he doesn't give us his name and his mask is painted with just a line."

"So you don't know who he is?"

"Nah. We were told not to ask questions about him. He barely interacts with the other Anbus or do any missions with his team. He never removes his mask when he is at the HQ and even sleep with it in the dorms. I may not know who he really is, but he is a force to recon. I only went once in a mission with him and he managed to eliminate more than twenty enemies in less than ten minutes."

While Sakamoto had now a name to put on the mask and knew the man actually existed – which he had started to doubt during his investigation – he then tried to see if he could find the man in the village and spend more time sightseeing the people walking in the streets.

It would be two months after their first meeting that Sakumo would see the man again. On a Saturday, while he was cleaning his house, Sakumo heard someone ring at his door. As he went to open the door with a smile, he froze as none other than his mysterious Anbu was standing at his entrance.

"Hatake Sakumo. I have a long term mission, approved by the Hokage, for you." The Anbu going by the name of Sen said as he slowly pushed a small boy not older than Kakashi in front of him.

"Good morning!" the boy said, a bit nervous. "My name is Uchiha Obito and I will be in your care! Please to meet you!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, how was it for a first chapter? Comments and kudos are welcome.
> 
> PS: I won't lie. I found the name Sen (線) by google-translating "line" in japanese.


	2. Chapter 2

As the four of them sat around the table drinking tea – Kakashi having come to see who it was and invited himself to the meeting – Sakumo was a bit troubled by the meaning of this 'mission'.

"You want me to… take care of Obito?" Sakumo asked.

Sen nodded as he held his cup of tea in his hand, not having drank from it. "Yes. This child has lost his parents and started academy this year. While he had been living with his grandmother until now, it would be in his advantage to actually live with a shinobi. Since you already have a son and enough place to house another child, you would be the best option."

Sakumo stayed silent for a moment, looking at the child who squinted at Kakashi to see if he could manage to see him remove his mask as he drank his tea, before looking back at the Anbu. "I'm not really sure…"

"This is a mission, Hatake. You will sign a contract and will be paid as such. It will be your duty to take care of Obito as if he was your son and help him develop into a fine man and shinobi." Sen put on the table a scroll that the older Hatake took. On the contract, there were all the stipulations that needed to be followed, but were actually basic to parenting tasks as feeding regularly, antending any injuries, supporting in studies, etc. Sakumo blinked as he saw the duration of the contract.

"Ten years?"

The masked man nodded. "Yes. Your contract will end when Obito turn seventeen. As you will be taking care of him, I really expect you to have a best regard to your own health and be careful in future missions." he said that with a deep voice and leaned forward. "Is that clear, Hatake? Failing this mission is not an option. You will have to get stronger for both those children."

Sakumo blanched as he realized the meaning behind those words. This Sen was making it clear that Sakumo shouldn't try a stunt like he did the night they met. He nodded with a slight grimace and looked down where he would need to sign. There was already present the Hokage's stamp and a bloody fingerprint under the applicant next to the empty place with his name. "Who has requested this mission?" he asked as the fingerprint wouldn't give him the identity of the person.

"It was me." Sen informed him. "And I will come regularly to be sure everything is going well."

Sakumo blinked in surprise before taking the pen that was handed to him and signed the contract. Taking back the scroll with a nod, Sen pulled out a suitcase out of a storage seal of his arm and placed it next to young Uchiha.

"Obito, this man will be your new caretaker. I want you to follow his instruction and behave. Keep studying and don't get too shy to ask help if you don't understand something. Be polite and don't forget to wash your teeth. I will come in a couple of days to check on you, alright?"

"Yes Uncle," said Obito and smiled as he received a pat on his head.

The Anbu then stood up, gave a nod to Sakumo and a last "Be good" to Obito before disappearing.

Sakumo kept watching the empty spot for a moment before turning his eyes in the direction of his new charge. Obito was fidgeting and looking nervous, which made Sakumo smile.

"Well, Obito. It's nice to meet you. I think you already met Kakashi at school? My name is Sakumo and it's a pleasure to have you live with us. Now let's see if we can find a room you would like to make yours."

:------------------------------------------------------:

Obito was arranging his new room the following day as it took a whole day to clean and arrange what would be from now on his bedroom. Even though Kakashi had complained the whole time that he would have less time to train and Obito had bickered with him, he was happy to be here. Don't get him wrong; he liked his granny but… she didn't get involved more than the basic with him. Sakumo seemed really nice and Obito couldn't help but wonder how Kakashi became such a jerk with such a nice dad. He would have loved to have a dad like that. He stopped arranging his clothes and turned when he heard a knock at the door. Letting the person knew that they could come in, Obito wasn't surprised to see Sakumo there.

"Already storing your things, I see. So how was your first night here?" Sakumo said with a smile as he sat next to Obito on the bed.

"Your house is huge! I nearly got lost when I went to the bathroom last night. But I slept well, thank you."

The grey-haired man chuckled. "Ah, it will take a while to map all the house. But I'm happy you slept well. This is your new home and I want you to feel good here."

"Thank you!" Obito beamed.

"So, this man you come with yesterday was your uncle?" the older man inquired.

"No, not exactly. But he has a Sharingan so he is an Uchiha and so, he is an Uncle…. Probably."

"I see… So you have seen him in the compound before?"

"Nope. I didn't live in the compound before and I never saw him there when I visited."

"Oh? Then how do you know him?" Sakumo couldn't help but wonder. He had expected that Obito could tell him more about this Sen, but it seemed to be a dead end too.

"I met him two years ago when I was training and he helped me. Since then, he often visits me to train or at home, but never wanted granny to meet him or knew he was here. He brought me souvenir from his trips and asked me what happened since the last time we met." Obito liked his Uncle, even if he didn't know his name. He was the first adult that actually acknowledged him for who he was, not like the other members of his family that only nagged him to train and get his Sharingan. His Uncle asked him about his day, listened when him complained of school and gave him advice on mundane things none related to Sharingan. His Uncle was a great person and deserved a capital 'U'.

"Did you already see him without his mask?" Sakumo inquired.

Obito hesitated a moment and bite his lower lips. "I saw him once. But he told me to never tell anyone about it." his Uncle had revealed his face once when Obito asked to see his Sharingan and he couldn't see well with the mask. His Uncle had told him that his face wasn't pretty, with a lot of scars that could scare him. But Obito had said he would never be scared of his Uncle and would love him no matter what his face looked like. His Uncle then had removed his mask and showed him his face and Sharingan. Obito had then asked if his scars still hurt but the older man had smiled and told him that they didn't hurt anymore before putting back his mask on and making him swear to not tell how he looked to anyone, not even the clan. Obito crossed his heart and swore secrecy.

"Ah. I guess Anbu had to keep their identity secret." Sakumo smiled. He didn't tell that he too had saw what the man looked like, since it had been more by accident than voluntary.

"DAAAAD! I'm hungry!" said the distinct voice of Kakashi from the corridor.

Sakumo laughed as he stood up. "I came to tell you that we were about to eat breakfast, Obito. Let's go to the kitchen before Kakashi destroy the kitchen in search for something to eat."

Obito watched the hand extended in his direction with surprise before hesitantly taking it in his own. They both walked hand in hand through the corridor to the kitchen with a shy smile on the child's face. It was the first time anyone had held his hand since he could remember. Not even his granny or aunt Mikoto had held his hand as they walked.

It was a pleasant sensation.

:------------------------------------------------------:

Obi- Sen had kept watch on Obito's first night to make sure his younger self was acclimating well to the new environment. He should remember to think of himself as Sen and not Obito if he was going to interact with people around his younger self. As he came to the past, he lost his name as he was now an anonymous Anbu of the village. There was already an Obito in this time, plus there was no need for him to interact other than under an Henge or his mask with others. He spent most his time doing missions or trying to change the future and prevent most casualties for the Third Shinobi War. Most of his time in Konoha was spent as an Anbu, never revealing his face to any of his comrades. He wasn't even the one to choose his name, as it was someone of his team that came up with a designation for him since he didn't have a normal animal's mask. He was a line – Sen – since he couldn't keep his mask blank by Hokage's order. As he went back to sleep in the dorms after spending the night watching over Obito, he met a few other Anbus there from his team.

"Hey, Sen! Having spent the whole night out?" Tiger said as he saw him come in.

"Yes," was the short reply Sen gave as he moved to his bed.

"Man, I don't know how you can sleep with that mask on." Tiger shook his head as he continued to get ready for his mission.

"You should come out with us sometimes since you only live here. Don't you have a home outside the HQ?" this time it was Hawk, a male Hyuga that talked, easily recognizable from his white eyes. This one was removing his mask and changing to get back home.

"Why would I bother to get an apartment when I have everything already here?" Sen replied as he removed part of his uniform, like the bandages, flak jacket and weapons to get more comfortable.

"Dude, you need to get a life! You know, there is something else outside work. Me, Hawk, Owl and Bear are going to a small private party this evening, to celebrate Cat coming back after giving birth to her first daughter. You wanna join? You can keep your mask, if you want."

Sen shook his head at Tiger's proposition. "No thank you. I have other things to do. Maybe next time."

"It's been two years since you joined and you always say that. But we won't give up." The Hyuga said before leaving the room.

Sen let out a snort before laying down on his bed. Why were they all so persistent? He didn't even know their name, except for their mask and their clan. It was easy to recognize a Yamanaka, a Hyuga or an Inuzuka with their dogs, but he never bothered with first names. He had fought with some during missions and while most had stopped trying to interact with him, there was a few that didn't know when to give up despite his antisocial behavior.

Whatever. Sen will just go to sleep and ignore all of them.

:------------------------------------------------------:

The first day at school since moving was very interesting for Obito. Sakumo accompanied both him and Kakashi to the entrance. He didn't yell at him to get ready and helped him instead to make his backpack. He held his hand all the way there even if Kakashi didn't want his to be held as he was – as he said – not a baby anymore, but Obito liked the attention. At the end of the day, he was back there to pick them and once at home, the three of them sat at the table to do their homework. Obito wasn't as smart as Kakashi, he knew the other boy was a genius, and some homework were harder for him to understand. Sakumo was patient and took time to explain things to him so he would understand. It was when they had finished and where spending time in the living room – the two boys arguing about what was the most efficient way to paint a drawing without going out of the lines – when there was a knock on the door.

"It's Uncle!" Obito said and ran to the door.

Sakumo heard the happy exclamation of the young Uchiha and went to invite their guest in. "Good afternoon. Please, come in."

The Anbu nodded as he was pulled by the hand inside by an enthusiastic Obito. Sakumo went back to his cooking as the two sat down on the sofa in the living room.

"So, kid," he heard Sen talk. "How had been your time living here so far? I expect a full report from you."

Obito went on and on about how things went in the house. About how Sakumo went with him to school, how Kakashi was a jerk sometimes – which got him a small reprimand about his language – how he now understood division and even showed the Anbu his new room before coming back and resuming the rest of the two days in the Hatake's household.

"That's good to heard," he said with a pat on the child's head.

"Would you like to stay for diner?" Sakumo proposed.

"Yes please! Stay for diner!" Obito encouraged as he bounced on his place.

"I don't know… I have things to do," Sen said as he hesitated, looking back and forth between the energetic child and the grey-haired man.

"You know, it's impolite to refuse an invitation," Kakashi dropped his point of view as he came in the room and looked the Anbu with his arms crossed over his chest and an eyebrow raised. "Especially when offered by the man on whom you dropped a kid out of the blue."

"Kakashi!" Sakumo scolded, but his voice was drowned by Obito's.

"Yes, it's very impolite, Uncle!" Obito quickly agreed.

"You two seems to be getting along pretty well," Sen stated and only shook his head when the two kids said at the same time 'We do not!'. "But I think I can't refuse such a fine offer of home-made meal."

They all sat on the table and ate their meal in a pleasant silence, until Kakashi pointed out something.

"Why don't you remove your mask when you eat? That's stupid."

Sakumo scolded his son as they had all noticed that the man barely tilted his mask up to allow the chopsticks to reach his mouth but had the decency to not point it out. He was surprised when the white-haired man replied with amusement in his voice.

"Is the pot calling the kettle black?" Sen then pointed his chopstick to Kakashi's mask.

The boy harrumphed and only said it was not polite to point chopsticks to someone and resumed eating. The meal went on with only Obito filling the silence with things he saw or learned at school or questions about history he didn't understood. At the end of the meal, Sakumo let the two kids go train with kunai throwing in the backyard if they wanted before it got too dark. The two kids ran out of table in seconds to fetch their weapons before exiting the house.

As Sakumo went back to the table with two cups of tea, he was surprised when the other handed him a brown envelope.

"What is this?" he asked as he took the filled envelope.

"Your fee for the mission and the expanse for Obito's needs. This should be enough for the month."

Sakumo's eyes widened as he pulled out a considerable amount of money. "That's quite a lot. I knew that Anbus earn more than regular shinobis, Sen, but I don't want to take all your money for what I would do freely for the wellbeing of this child."

"Don't worry. I still keep enough to feed myself… and you know my name?" the masked Anbu tilted his head on the side.

"Ah," said Sakumo as he looked back at the masked-man facing him. "I asked some of my friends if they knew you and one did. He told me you go by the code name of Sen, but I would really like to know your real name to address you properly if I see you outside and off duty, of course."

The Anbu looked down at his cup of tea in silent before speaking again. "I don't have any other name than Sen. And you will probably not see me out in the village except to report back to the Hokage."

Sakumo looked a little confused by the answer. "Then what do you do in your free time?"

"I train in the HQ or think of strategies for missions." Can the matter-of-fact answer.

"But what about when you get you get back home?"

"I live in the HQ. I don't have another place since all I need is already there."

Sakumo didn't know what to answer to that. He had never heard of an Anbu that didn't have a life outside of work. It was just unheard, since anyone needed time to rest and recover out of duty to keep their mind sane. "You must feel lonely there."

Although the eyes were the only part he could see, Sakumo was sure the white-haired man was frowning at him.

"I don't need company. All I need to do is fulfill my missions and make sure there is no unnecessary casualties. As long as Konoha is a good place to live and I can prevent any internal problem, I don't need anything more."

Sakumo only nodded, not wanting to appear too patronizing to someone he barely knew and just smiled. It wasn't his place to tell the other how to live his life. "Well, you are welcome to visit Obito whenever you want. The door will always be open for you."

"Thank you. I need to go. Tell Obito I will come visit in a few days." And with that, he body-flickered out of the house.

Sakumo stayed a moment longer on his place, contemplating what he just learned. No wonder no one knew about Sen if he didn't do anything outside of the Anbu's HQ. He wondered he there was something he could do for the man that helped him when he was at his lowest and stopped him from doing the irreparable. How could someone be a shinobi before being a man and not having a name? He was pulled out of his thought when he heard the boys coming back in, Obito wanting to show the bull-eye he managed to do while Kakashi lazily stated that it was total fluke. The boy was disappointed to see that his uncle had already left, even when Sakumo told him he will be back in a few days. It was only when Kakashi dared him to try do it again that the light came back in his eyes and he took the challenge while bickering as they both went back outside. Sakumo was happy to see his son was getting along with his new friend. He knew that Kakashi could be sensitive despite acting cold and aloof as he tried to act all grownup. Obito will be good for his son as his son will be good for the young Uchiha. He was happy for Kakashi to have someone else to interact than his father.

:------------------------------------------------------:

It became a regular thing to have Sen come visit them at least once a week. Obito was always a chatterbox whenever the man was around, vibrating with energy. Sen was always patient and silently listened, only talking when asked a question. Kakashi became interested in the man too, asking him question about Anbu or the mission he had participated. Sakumo quickly discovered that Sen had a knack for teasing his son. He seemed to like teasing the younger boy, telling him stories before dropping the end with a "the rest is confidential", or telling him something and when Kakashi asked if it was really true, dropping an "of course not. Why would I reveal such vital information to a snotty brat?" It was fascinating and ironical that Kakashi tried to see the man's face behind the mask. It would appear that it had been too dark when Kakashi had thrown his shuriken at Sen to have him properly seen, not realizing it was the same man he was talking with now.

On one of those visits, Kakashi was really persistent on wanting to defy Sen in a fight. The man only snorted and flickered his index on the boy's forehead, telling him to come back when he could at least reach his chest. Both boys then tried to pull the man up from the armchair he was sitting on to see if they actually reached his chest, making Sen laugh for the first time at their fruitless efforts. Sakumo had been stunned to hear such a carefree laugh coming from the man. He even found himself imagining what would Sen's face look like while smiling and laughing. It was then that an idea coming from nowhere popped on his mind.

"How about training with me?" Sakumo proposed. Both boys stopped to look at him, before turning big hopeful eyes to the masked man once realizing who the older Hatake was speaking to. Sen watched silently Sakumo, making this one develop his thoughts. "Ah, I could go with some training before going back to duty. I won't stay home indefinitely, right?"

It took a moment longer before Sen shrugged. "Why not."

Both boys cheered up and ran to the backyard, waiting excitedly for the two adults to join them. Once facing each other, Sakumo explained the rules. "Only Taijutsu. The first one to get completely overwhelmed or giving up loose. Are you ok with that?"

"Good with me. Whenever you are ready." Sen then waited in a defensing stance for Sakumo to give the first strike.

Sakumo didn't waste time. He launched at the Anbu and directly tried two quick punches on the vital points. Sen easily evaded the one to his temple and blocked the one to his throat. The masked man the countered with swift kick on his left knee, making Sakumo jump to evade and used his higher position to try to kick the other on the head. Sen was truly agile. Despite his best effort, Sakumo only managed a few hits to land and couldn't block everything sent in his direction. They fought for ten long minutes, the kids cheering them at the side, before Sakumo thought he saw an opening. He grabbed Sen by the arm and tried to twist it while pulling him sideway and down as he kneed him on the ribs. Sen groaned and Sakumo was sure that he could pin him down with one more push on his shoulder, but the other managed to make a move that should have dislocated his shoulder to slide down between Sakumo's legs and pull this on out of balance. He didn't understand how this happened, but in the end Sakumo found himself laying down on his stomach with a weight on his midsection and a firm grip on his nape. On the side, Obito was cheering loudly.

"Well, aren't you getting old, Hatake?" Sen said in a light voice.

Sakumo tried to wriggle a bit to see if he could get free but eventually gave up. He turned his head to the side to look at the one behind him from the corner of his eye and smiled. "Well, you are an Anbu… and I don't think I'm that much older." The weight on his back was removed and Sakumo then saw a hand extended in his direction. He took it and Sen helped him back to his feet and chuckled as this one was quickly assaulted by an excited Obito who was clinging to his uncle's legs while Kakashi was scowling at him. "You know; you can call me Sakumo since it's been awhile that we know each other. Anyway, what do you want for your victory?"

Sen watched him silently before slowly shaking his head. "I don't want anything."

"C'mon, it's the game. You won, you get a reward. You want to go out eat some dangos? I can buy you some sake you like or we can go somewhere you want." Sakumo tried to entice Sen in accepting. He wanted to know more about the mysterious shinobi and if he had to bait him with free food and drink, then he will use the opportunity his defeat gave him.

"I don't need nor want anything." Sen spoke after a moment of silence, the aura around the man switched to a tense and defensive one as he slowly pushed Obito away from his leg. "I need to go." And with those words, he body-flickered out of the backyard.

"Wha… what happened?" Obito asked in confusion, trying to see if one of the two Hatake had an answer. Kakashi looked as confused as him while Sakumo tried to give a smile that he felt too strained to be believable.

"I shouldn't have insisted. Let's just forget it. I will apologize next time we see him."

But the following week went without the visit of their usual guest. They paid it no mind, since the Anbu had already missed his weekly visit because of mission before and never specifically said he would come weekly. The second week came and still no news of their Anbu, but still nothing to get the household worried about. After that, it became obvious to the two Hatakes that Obito was getting a little more depressed as days went by, though he tried to hide it behind a smile. Kakashi informed his father that Obito told him that his uncle never left for long missions without telling him he won't be able to visit for a while. Sakumo was starting to get preoccupied. A month and four days went on and it was Obito's birthday. Sakumo tried to cheer the boy by making a big party for his 8 years. They invited a few of his cousins from the Uchiha's clan and some of his classmates. Obito laughed and had fun, making Sakumo laugh as his previous antic of fighting with Kakashi came back.

Late at night, when all the guests had left, Sakumo with his son were cleaning the mess of decorations in the living room. Kakashi came next to him and nudged him with his elbow before pointing with his chin the boy sitting on the sofa. Sakumo watched with a grimace the sad boy sitting with his arms curled around his legs and went to sit next to him on the sofa.

"C'mon. He will be back soon."

Obito buried his head in his knee to hide the tears threating to spill from his eyes. "He never missed my birthday before." The boy whispered.

Putting one arm around the small shacking shoulders, Sakumo pulled him closer to his side. "I'm sure he had a good reason-"

A crashing sound resonated in the house and Sakumo was standing up in alert with a kunai in hand. He didn't felt any Jutsu and no trap had been triggered from the wards all around the perimeter of the house. He stood in front of Obito and pushed Kakashi behind him as he contemplated the best action to keep his boys safe. A very familiar silhouette appeared on the living room's entrance and Sakumo relaxed as Obito rushed to the intruder's direction.

"Uncle!" Obito cried as he launched himself on his Uncle.

Sen caught the boy and went down on his knee as he hugged the boy. "Ah… I'm a little late this time…"

Obito laughed happily while tightening his grip around the older man's neck. "I thought you wouldn't come."

"And miss… your birthday? Never." He pushed the kid away so he could press his covered forehead against Obito's for a moment then pulled out a small wrapped box from his pocket to hand it to the birthday's boy. "Here. I got this from Ame. I was a little short in time to get you a proper gift… but I hope you will like it."

Obito took the present and gave a huge smile with tears in his eyes. "Doesn't matter what it is. I will love it since it's from you!" Obito assured.

As Sen was patting the dark-haired boy on the head, Kakashi harrumphed and moved closer with his arms folded in front of his chest and an angry scowl. "What a poor example of adult you make. Couldn't you come earlier than nearly midnight? And why didn't you inform us that you would be away for so long? Obito was death worried!"

"I wasn't!" Obito countered and the two bickered.

Sen tried to stood up, but his legs gave under him and brought him back down on his knees with a trembling arm on the ground to support his weight. Obito let out a startled cry and went to help his Uncle. Sakumo was directly at their side in seconds, examining the Anbu.

"This blood… are you injured?" Sakumo asked, now realizing the other's clothes were stained on various part with blood.

"Not mine… just chakra exhaustion… need to rest for a little… while."

Sakumo was quick to hold the other and prevent little Obito to get crushed by the death weight as the other lost consciousness.

"You two go rest. You have school tomorrow." As the two boys started to complain Sakumo took a stern look. "Go right now. I will take Sen to a guest room to rest for the night and keep an eye on him." The silver-haired man then took Sen in his arms – surprised by the other being heavier than excepted – and took him to a free room. He put him on the bed and quickly removed his blood-stained clothes to check if there was any injury he should take care. There were no wounds nor bruises, not even a scratch, but he was surprised to see the strange discoloration on the whole right side of his body. He hesitated a moment before deciding to remove the mask. Sen was sweating and there was a bit of blood on the corner of his mouth. He went to fetch a washcloth and cleaned the bare face, taking extra caution on the scarred side. It was the second time he saw the Anbu without his mask, so he took a moment to examine his relaxed face. Sen was still handsome despite his scars. Sharp nose, thin eyebrows and lips. Was it to hide his scars that he wore his mask constantly? He wondered a moment if he should put back the mask but concluded the other wouldn't sleep comfortably with it on, so he put it on the pillow next to his head.

A small knock was heard from the bedroom and Sakumo went up to see what it was. Obito stood there on his pajama, his hands knotting the bottom of his shirt.

"Is… is he alright?" the boy asked in concern.

"Sakumo smiled and went down on a knee to be at the child's eye-level. "Your uncle is uninjured. It's only chakra-exhaustion as he said. He will be up tomorrow as new; you will see." He then pulled the boy closer and kissed his forehead. "Go sleep. I will stay here to be sure he is okay for the night."

Obito nodded with a wobbling smile before leaving and Sakumo went to sit on the only chair present in the room. As he was awake, he heard an hour later small feet walking down the hallway and a faint knock on a nearby door. He smiled as he heard the grumpy voice of his son followed by the small voice of Obito before Kakashi sighed dramatically and the sound of the door closing back. He didn't hear the conversation but from what he guessed, Obito had gone to sleep with Kakashi in his bed, surely having trouble sleeping alone after seeing his uncle faint. He continued to watch the sleeping man, and had more questions than ever appearing in his head. But if he was sure of something, it was that this person really loved the young Uchiha and was important for the kid.

That, he had no doubt about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, how was it? Not really a cliffhanger but and I can bet it is a bit frustrating but... I had to end it somewhere!!!  
> Comments and kudos appreciated!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thanks to Shinkan who had helped in beta reading this chapter. Thank you so much!! ｍ(＿ ＿)ｍ  
> And I have put a small drawing I did about Sen.

Sen was having a massive headache. He stayed still with his eyes closed, trying to remember the previous event.

He remembered having been summoned by the Hokage to talk about what events they should prevent for the future's peace. After the discussions, it became clear that their next point of action would be to go to Ame and help with the rebellion and overthrow Hanzo.

Sen was ordered to leave as soon as possible. He was forming plans in his head to help Akatsuki this time and completely forgot to inform Obito about his long absence.

It took him time to observe Ame, having managed to get into the village with his Kamui. He studied the guards present in the village, heard what the people thought about Hanzo and his politics, learned the displeasure that most shinobi had about their leader and even managed on a few occasions to watch Hanzo without him being aware. After that, he left the village and went in search of the Akatsuki group.

With how his head hurt did he really want to remember.

  


\-- Flashback! --

Akatsuki were harder to locate, but he managed to find their base in the end. He went in with his orange mask on – he didn't want anyone there to see his Anbu mask just in case of unwanted prying eyes – and proposed his help. It went without saying that he wasn't welcomed with open arms.

He fought a good part of the revolutionaries without harming any of them and mostly evading any attack thrown at him. When eventually Yahiko came in person followed closely by Konan and Nagato, Sen went down on a knee before the group's leader, presenting himself as Sen, a homeless shinobi wanting to help their group to kill Hanzo and get information for them. Yahiko and Nagato were skeptical, but Sen gave freely most of the information he had gathered on Ame. He knowingly accepted being held in a warded cell until they decided what to do about him and, after nearly a week, Nagato himself came to visit him.

"What is your goal in helping us?" The red-haired teen asked in an authoritative voice.

"I have no other objective than to free Ame from Hanzo's reign." Sen told him as Nagato slowly entered the cell. Sen stayed relaxed to show no aggressive sign.

"But you must have a reason for doing this. What are you expecting to gain in assisting us?"

Sen stood up and cocked his head on the side, keeping his arms on the length of his body and visible when Nagato tensed at the move. "Why can't one just want to make right what's wrong? I wish nothing more than to put Yahiko at the head of this village instead of Hanzo, since I'm sure you are not interested in the position. I will ask nothing of you in return for my help, it is given freely. I will also disappear as quickly as I have come, when Hanzo is dead and you will hear no more of me."

"You will ask nothing in return? I don’t and can't believe it."

Sen sighed and sat back on his cot. "This world we live in! Is it too hard to believe in someone being selfless? But I guess it's in Shinobi's nature to be distrustful." he muttered loud enough for the other to hear. "There are good people in this world. I'm sure you have met some in your life too. I could have killed all your men when I came, but none have even a scratch done by me. I could even kill you right now, even if you are a user of the Rinnegan, but I won't so don't fret. If you don't want my help…" Sen used Kamui to disappear and reappear outside of the barred cell. "I will leave and let you be."

Nagato gapped as he turned to see the man standing outside the cell. "How? You shouldn't be able to use Jutsu’s in that cell!"

Sen laughed. "Oh, there is so much more that I can do. I can be your asset, if you wish so. So tell me, Nagato," He walked back in the cell by the open door. "Do you want my help or not?"

After that, Sen became officially a temporary member of Akatsuki. Most didn't trust him but he didn't care. He was here to help Nagato in changing Ame, nothing more. He went on missions to retrieve information asked by the group's leader, helping him plan the offensive because he was a mastermind after all.

As weeks went by, the trio started to slowly trust him. It was undeniable how useful he was as a spy, his ability to get vital information from all around Ame.

Once when they were all eating in the small cafeteria, Konan asked him why he always wore his mask. Sen smiled and told her that life hadn't been kind to him and it was better for no one to see the horror behind the mask. When Yahiko asked him why the orange color, since it wasn't really discreet for a ninja, Sen laughed and told him that it was his favorite color, plus he was such a good shinobi it would not be an hindrance.

The day eventually came when they were ready to attack. Sen went ahead to scout the surroundings to be sure everything was going as planned.

He was surprised when he felt multiple chakra signatures moving in the direction of the Akatsuki base.

As he went back to inform them that their plan had been exposed, he was attacked by a few ninjas that he easily took care of.

Sen was a little perplexed when he recognized them from being ROOT Anbu. Was Danzo already that far and that much advanced in his plan to manipulate the war? He knew the old man had his hand in the third shinobi war, but he didn't know he had started this early in the game. He kept this information for himself and used Kamui to get back to the rebels. He then informed everybody that Hanzo and his men were advancing in their direction and would be there in a few hours.

He consulted with Yahiko, Konan and Nagato to make a new plan that would allow them to have the upper hand. Since Hanzo wasn't aware that his surprise attack had been discovered, they would use this opportunity to take them by surprise. Some men would stay in the base while most would hide in the nearby forest with their chakra concealed and attack at the same time the enemy would attack the base.

Sen proposed to be one of the few that would stay in the base as support, making kage-bunshin so that it would make it appear that more people were present with their chakra visible. At Yahiko's refusal, Sen told him it was only logical, since his life had no importance to Akatsuki and that the person that would stay in the base would be the most at risk.

"Don't say that! You have become a fellow member of Akatsuki! You have helped us, and as such you are a part of Akatsuki as any of us!"

Sen blinked behind his mask, surprised by the anger in Yahiko's voice. He dramatically put his hands over his heart and said in a cheerful voice as he unconsciously fell back into his Tobi persona. "Ah, it warms my poor little heart to hear you recognize me as a brother in arms. But let's be real. Strategically speaking, I'm the most apt to be the bait, since I'm a hundred percent sure that I will come out of this alive and could help whomever will be there with me. You are the leader here. You have to make the right decisions for the best outcome, no matter how fond of me you have become in these past few weeks."

It was funny to see the orange-haired teen scowl before tisking and agreeing.

"Alright." Nagato agreed aloud. "But you better not make us come find you after winning this fight, only to find your dead body as a result. I will find a way to resurrect you and then I will kill you again."

"Ah, a man after my heart!" Sen chuckled as he instructed three other men with the highest chakra reserves to go with him into base and make as many kage-bunshin’s as possible. "Don't worry. I have too much to do to make this world a peaceful place, I won't die now."

Their hastily made plan went off without a hitch. The Ame shinobi surrounded the base, having detected multiple chakra signatures in the hideout. As they all forced their way in, they were so engrossed by the fight in front of them that at the last moment they noticed the attack from behind.

The Akatsuki quickly grasped the advantage of the surprise attack, taking the enemy on both sides, after getting the advantage. It was then that Yahiko and Nagato moved their attention onto Hanzo, while Konan supported the troops fighting the Ame shinobis. The fight was taxing for the two teens and they quickly found themselves at the disadvantage. It was when Hanzo was about to slit Yahiko's throat with a throw of his sickle that Sen appeared and pushed the orange-haired teen down on the ground and blocked the blade with a kunai.

"It won't do for the future leader of Ame to die so soon," Sen said as he felt the sickle slice his right arm, when Hanzo pulled back his weapon.

"Oh, you are good." Hanzo said to Sen. "Unfortunately for you, my blade is coated with the poison of the black salamander and you will soon find yourself paralyzed before it kills you."

Sen stayed immobile for a moment before lifting the arm that had been injured and opening and closing his hand in a fist. "Sorry to disappoint you, but your poison won't have an effect on me."

Hanzo barely had time to be shocked before the masked shinobi ran to attack him. He found himself blocking most attacks, with none of his managing to reach their target. He quickly summoned his salamander but Sen was ready for it. He used Kamui to swap out the summon into his dimension.

"We can't have you poisoning everybody present here, can we?"

"How is that possible?!" Hanzo screamed as he launched himself at the mysterious shinobi. "Who are you?!"

"I am the Shinigami that has come to take you to the Underworld." Sen then disappeared and reappeared behind Hanzo, a kunai at his throat. "Your time is up, Hanzo The Salamander." And with those last words, Sen sliced the man's throat.

As the man fell on the ground, Sen turned around to find Yahiko and Nagato staring at him with wide eyes. As the two were trying to find words to their questions, Sen quickly pulled the dead body on his back and ran to the place where the fight was going on in the base.

"C'mon! Let's go tell the Ame shinobis that Hanzo is dead and stop the fight." Sen ran ahead and stopped near the battlefield. He took a deep breath and started to scream loud enough for everybody to hear. "Everyone! The fight is over! Hanzo is dead, killed by Yahiko, leader of Akatsuki and now of Ame too!"

Everybody froze and watched Hanzo laying on the ground with a pool of blood beneath him while Yahiko let out a small 'what?'. The Akatsuki cheered as the others dropped their weapons on the ground.

The civil war was finally over. It took a few more days to get rid of the few Hanzo's supporters that remained, but most of the population was glad to have a new leader. Sen took the time to get rid of all the ROOT shinobis he found there discreetly. In the end, Sen went to give his farewell to the trio, his time there was reaching its end.

"Why did you tell everyone that I was the one who killed Hanzo?" Yahiko asked with a frown. "I can't credit myself the merit, when it was clearly you that single handedly did that deed. It's not fair."

"Tell me," Sen said with folded arms over his chest. "How do you expect the village to accept you as their leader when they are told someone else killed Hanzo? It must be you, the legendary warrior that fought the tyrannical Hanzo to free Ame, that will become the leader of this village."

"I don't like taking the credit of someone else's feat." Yahiko grimaced.

"I'm sure Nagato and Konan are on my side on this." He turned around to see the two watching Yahiko determinedly with a nod. "If it bothers you so much, then see it as a favor for me, make sure to be a great leader that seeks peace instead of war. That's the only request I will ask you for."

Yahiko reluctantly agreed. "Are you sure you have to leave? You know… you can be an official citizen of Ame if you wish."

Sen couldn't help the smile behind his mask. Yahiko looked so young with his meek expression. He reminded him a bit of Naruto. "Have you fallen for me? That can't do. Should I remind you that you were the one that emphasized daily for two weeks that I was only a temporary member of the Akatsuki?"

Yahiko sputtered in embarrassment, denying loudly to have this kind of feeling. It was then Konan, the usually silent woman, addressed him next. "Apart from Yahiko's feeling for you," he let out a loud 'HEY!' at this, "You are and will always be a true member of Akatsuki and as such, welcomed in Ame. You helped us without asking anything in return and for that, you will always find the gate open for you here."

Sen smiled tenderly at the woman. She was so different than the Konan he knew. She looked more radiant and happy. He saw life sparking in her eyes in a way he never saw before. "I'm happy for the offer but, unfortunately, I still have a lot to do to help this world to be a better place to live. I already helped Konoha and now Ame. I still have other villages to help too. You will have a lot of work on your hands to manage this village and won't even have time to miss me with all the decisions you will have to make." He then decided to let his inner Tobi make surface for the occasion. "C'mon! Let's have a group-hug for the occasion!" He opened his arms wide and was pleasantly surprised when the three teens easily moved to hug him. As they separated, he asked Nagato to accompany him outside and bid farewell to the other two.

They walked in silence to the entrance of the village and both stopped when they passed the gate.

"I guess you have something you wanted to tell me specifically?" Nagato asked.

"Yes, Actually." Sen then pointed at his eyes. "Those eyes you have are very powerful. They can be a gift to this world as well as a curse. Be sure to be cautious because there are people who will come for them." Sen then lowered partially his mask to reveal his eyes and saw Nagato gasp in shock with a slack mouth and wide eyes. "I know for experience, even if I only have one.”

Sen let out a small sigh, “If one-day death comes to one of the people you held dear, you shall mourn, but accept it. There will come in the future a shadow that will ask for your eyes as the price to resurrect the people you lost. You should not believe it for there is no way to bring back the dead. That is my last advice and the favor I personally ask you to follow, for if I cannot stop it in time, it will come for you."

Sen then put back his mask to conceal his Rinnegan. "I hope you get to have your happiness here, Nagato, and profit from life to its fullest." With that last sentence, Sen disappeared before Nagato could ask him more questions.

Sen reappeared in the middle of the forest between Konoha and Ame and collapsed on the ground as his vision blurred. He felt drained. He had fought nonstop after killing Hanzo, getting all of the ROOT members he found and used continually his Mangekyo to get rid of the pests in his haste to leave that day, as it was an important day.

He checked in his pocket hoping he still had the small wrapped box with him. He had found a small silver chain as a collar for Obito's gift, with the little amount of time he had and hoped the boy would appreciate it. He looked at the sky after taking a moment to rest and saw that night was slowly falling. He was about to use Kamui to teleport to the Hatake's household when he felt a few chakra signatures move not far from where he was.

He stayed immobile to see if he would be the target of some surprise attack, but they passed without paying him any attention. He considered following them, since only bandits or rogue shinobis would take this path and follow the main road used by merchants, but decided against it. It was already late and his usually large reserve of chakra was at its lowest. Just as he was readying himself to use Kamui, a scream resonated in the forest and with a sigh of resignation, his shoulders dropped as he knew he would be late to wish Obito a happy birthday.

  


\-- End of the flashback! --

After remembering everything, Sen groaned and rubbed his forehead to alleviate the pain there and frowned as he felt something amiss without being able to put his finger on what it was.

"Your mask is on the pillow next to you."

Sen sat up at lightning speed at the sound of voice in the room with him and his hand automatically went to the pouch of weapon he always kept on his hip, to find nothing but the material of his boxer. He saw Sakumo sitting on a chair with his hands raised up in a non threatening way and Sen collapsed back down on the bed.

"Sorry. I thought you would feel better to sleep without your mask on."

Sen rubbed with two fingers his tired eyes. "I always sleep with my mask on. Don't take it off again without my consent." Sen went to retrieve his mask but was stopped by Sakumo's voice.

"You don't have to put it back. I already saw your face before, you know?"

"If you don't mind the horror show," Sen huffed.

"I don't think it's that bad. I find you quite handsome actually."

Sen turned his head to watch the other man with a blank expression. "Your tastes are shit."

Sakumo was about to reply when Sen sat up and looked at the door as the sound of familiar fast footsteps coming from the corridor. Less than a couple of seconds later, the door was pushed open and Obito was running to the bed, still wearing his pajama.

"Uncle! Are you alright?"

Sen smiled and lifted the boy to sit on the bed next to him. "I'm alright. Had a rough mission that came at the drop of the hat and forgot to tell you." He watched Obito's tears form in his eyes before the boy hugged him. Sen combed the youngster's hair and gave him a moment to collect himself before speaking again. "How was your birthday? Did you have a party with your friends? Did you get cool presents?"

Obito automatically started to babble about how great the party was. He talked about the cake they ate, which cousins came, gifts he received and the games they played.

Sakumo watched from his seat in silence with a small smile. The white-haired man was completely relaxed, looking at his nephew who was now sitting on his lap with a fond expression on his face. He then saw the man tense and reached back for his mask that he quickly held to his face with one hand. Obito stopped talking, looking at his Uncle with confusion before Sen turned his now hidden face to the entrance.

"I know you are there, Kakashi. You can come in."

Kakashi came in, already changed in his daily clothes, and frowned at the man laying on the bed. "Why are you only hiding your face to me? I know from the sound of your voice that you weren't wearing it a second ago."

Sen merely shrugged "They already saw my face. Obi, help me tie my mask, please." Obito beamed and went to help his uncle knot the laces of his mask.

"That's unfair!" Kakashi declared petulantly.

"I will show you my face… when you show me yours." Sen declared as he raised his head higher in a daring way. He saw Kakashi raise his hand to finger the cloth covering his mouth before dropping his hand with a huff.

"Well, I don't care what you look like." Kakashi then turned to leave the room.

Sen then put Obito back down. "You should go get prepared for school too." He stood up himself and saw Obito's pout turn to a surprised look as he watched his discolored skin he just noticed, but the boy said nothing. "I need to report back to the Hokage. I'm already late."

"It can wait after you eat breakfast with us." Sakumo said. "Don't you think so, Obito?"

Obito quickly looked away from the bicolored chest to look expectantly at his Uncle's face. "Yes! The Hokage can wait!"

Sen looked down at the boy with a sigh. "That's not something a shinobi should say. But I guess it can't hurt to eat before I meet him. Now go change yourself. You don't want to get Kakashi late too and then hear him nagging you for it, do you?"

Sakumo chuckled as the kid rushed out of the room to get ready. "Take your time. Breakfast will be ready in ten minutes."

When Sakumo entered the kitchen, he sighed at the sight of his son sulking on the chair. "Come on, Kakashi. Help me make breakfast, since you are already ready."

The two Uchihas came just as he was putting the plates on the table. They all ate in comfortable silence, with Kakashi turning around to make sure Sen didn't get a glimpse of his face. Sakumo shook his head in amusement. When they were all finished, Sakumo went to fetch something from the fridge.

"I managed to keep some for you. It was really hard, with all those kids high on sugar, but I thought that on the chance you would come, you would appreciate having some." The older gray-haired man put down in front of Sen a slice of cake they had for Obito's birthday.

Obito then asked his Uncle a question that he wasn't expecting. "When is your birthday? We never celebrated it before."

Sen froze with the fork in his hand. "I don’t have a birthday."

Kakashi blinked at the man and managed to look at him as if he was stupid despite his mask covering half of his face. "Everybody is born on a day. You are no exception, so you must have a birth day."

"I don't have a birth date, so I never celebrate any birthday. It's like that."

A heavy silence fell on the room, but Obito broke it as he took hold of his Uncle's arm. "You can share mine. I don't mind. That way, whenever we celebrate my birthday, it will be for both of us."

Sakumo felt his heart swell at such a kind gesture from such a young boy. "That's very kind of you, Obito. So on that occasion," Sakumo fetched a candle that he put on the slice of cake before lighting it. "Happy birthday, Sen."

Sen watched dumbly the small candle burning as Obito cheerfully wished him a happy birthday followed by a calmer Kakashi. He watched the flame, wondering about the stupidity of fate that had made him get his actual birth day to celebrate. It was when Obito informed him that he had to make a wish and blow the candle that he came back to present. He lifted partially his mask to blow the flame, and when Obito asked him what he had wished for, he answered him even if he had made none. "I wished for you to become a strong and healthy man in the future."

"You don't say your wish aloud, or they won't come true," informed Kakashi. "Now Obito will be sickly and weak because of you."

"I WON'T!" Obito countered and the two started to fight and insult each other.

Sen ate his cake as Sakumo tried to calm the two kids. It tasted sweet. He didn't need to eat daily, not even weekly, thanks to the Hashirama's cells in him, so it had been a long time since he ate something that sweet for the sake of just savoring it.

It was really good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? What did you think? Hope you all loved this chapter and the drawing.  
> Personnaly, I think I'm more talented in drawing than in writing. (^^ゞ
> 
> Kudos and comments appreciated as always. Let me knew what you think about my drawing of Sen.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to update!  
> I hope you like it and the little gift Shinkan made at the end in the little omake!
> 
> Enjoy!

Once he had finished his cake, Sen left to report his mission in Ame to the Hokage.

"So, everything went as you wished?" the Hokage asked in the security of his office, privacy seal activated so no one – not even the Anbu guards – could hear.

"Yes. Ame won't be a threat to Konoha in the future. With Yahiko as the leader, he will have a lot of work on his hands with all the changes he wants for his village. He wishes for peace and will remain neutral and won't ally with anyone or be part of any war for now. We won't have to fight against them, should a war start."

"You didn't tell them that you were from Konoha? Why? It would have been easier to get them as allies if the worst should happen."

"It would have been harder to get them to trust me if they had known I was from Konoha. I had to pass myself as an wandering shinobi to be accepted and even as such, it took me three weeks to be fully acknowledged as a none threat."

"At least it will be a front we won't have to fight," conceded the elder with a sigh. The Hokage saw that Sen remained still and didn't bow to leave, he knew the other wasn't done. "You have other information," he stated.

"Yes."

After hearing the short reply, Sarutobi grimaced. "I believe that this won’t be pleasant information."

"Unfortunately." The Anbu nodded. "It's about the man I warned you about when I first came. I saw many ninja from Root present with Hanzo and fighting for him. I had to take care of all of them or risk haveing all of our hard work turn to nothing, if Akatsuki learned that Konoha had supported Hanzo. This could have turned into a diplomatic mess and cause the beginning of a war. Am I right in guessing you weren't aware of what was happening?"

Hiruzen sagged on his chair, feeling the weight of the world fall upon his shoulders. "You are correct. How many?"

"Two dozen. Danzo got involved sooner than I had expected in all of that."

Hiruzen rubbed his face with both of his hands. He felt tired and old. Too old. "What are you doing, Danzo?" he muttered in his hands.

"I know he is a friend of yours and a council member but… he is inevitably part of the tragedy that will fall upon us. I may not know his motivation, but you have to remember that hell is paved in good intentions."

"I will take care of this." The Hokage told him, no promise, nor his word, but that something will be done.

"Very well. I will keep an eye on him and Root's activities. But be aware that I will not wait for him to get more involved than he already is. We have the advantage of time and my knowledge with us. Shall the price to stop him be my execution for treason, I will gladly be the one to take his head and hand myself to be judged afterward. I will not watch without acting again the destruction of a clan and the death of hundreds of our shinobi in war for whatever dream an old man had."

Sen bowed his head and disappeared before the Hokage could say anything more. Hiruzen felt all the weight of his years pushing him down, making his back and hips ache. He needed to retire and let someone younger take care of leading the village in his place. He would have to start looking for a successor soon.

:-----------------------------------:

Sakumo was on his way to fetch his boys from the academy when someone bumped into him.

"Good morning," The person said. It was a man with long blond hair tied in a low ponytail with pale blue eyes.

Sakumo smiled at the stranger. "Ah, sorry. Good morning to you too." He then resumed his walk.

It took him a few seconds for his instinct signal him, he was being followed. He looked discreetly behind him and saw the unknown man he had bumped a few steps behind him. Sakumo let it go as coincidence, since the man looked like a civilian, but after a couple of minutes of walking and still having the same man following him, he decided to stop and address the situation.

"Do we know each other?" Sakumo asked suspiciously. He was positive he had never met this man before, but maybe this person had some business with him?

"Did you forgot me right after celebrating my birthday this morning? Maybe those are actually grey hair."

Sakumo blinked before his eyes widened in surprise. "Sen?" The man smiled and nodded. "A Henge?"

Sen chuckled as he resumed his walk, pulling Sakumo with him so they wouldn't stand in the middle of the street. "I can't go around always wearing my Anbu mask, can I? I just came to give you this." He handed Hatake the usual brown envelope with the fee for the mission of taking care of Obito, though this time it looked larger than usual. "I didn't manage to pay you last month's fee, so you have two months in there this time."

Sakumo eyed the envelope but didn’t took it. "I don't want you to pay me for this. I would gladly take care of Obito without asking for payment. It is good for Kakashi to have someone his age around anyway."

Sen took Sakumo's hand and put the envelope in it. "You know, I got forced to accept a salary even though I declined any form of payment. All the money I get rest in a hidden place without me getting any use of it. I prefer it to be used than gathering dust. Plus, I'm part of the reason you have been put on standby and I know your incomes have marginally decreased since you can't go on mission. So it's actually doing me a favor for you to accept this."

Sakumo frowned, not knowing what to say but accept. It was then that an idea popped in his mind. "I will accept… if you come with me to fetch the boys and eat dinner with us today." He felt more than saw Sen tense at his side as he nearly missed a step, only noticeable for a trained ninja. But he waited patiently for the other's reply.

"I… alright."

The two waited with many other parents for the school's bell to ring. Some parents came to speak with Sakumo and inquired about the man accompanying him. Sen only smiled enigmatically without opening his mouth, letting Sakumo explain that he was a friend who had come visit him. Eventually the bell rang and Sakumo didn't have to try to fill Sen's silence for him when people asked the disguised man any question. The door opened and a wave of children ran out to greet their parent. Sakumo quickly saw the two boys bickering as they walked in his direction.

Sakumo patted them both on the head when they were standing in front of him. "Hello boys. How was school today?"

"Obito couldn't even answer the basic question about chakra knowledge and all the class laughed at him." Kakashi dutifully informed his father.

"How should I have known that Lightning is stronger against Earth? That's just stupid! Earth should be able to block lightening since earth won't burn or evaporate."

It was then that Kakashi noticed the unknown man standing beside his father. "Who is this?" the boy rudely asked.

Sakumo was about to scold his son for his manners when he felt a hand circle his arm. He turned around to find Sen smiling brightly at Kakashi.

"I'm your father's date for the day. He invited me to meet you all."

Sakumo blinked in surprise at the declaration while Kakashi's eyes budged out of their sockets.

"WHAT? Since when?!" Kakashi asked in shock as he looked at both adults.

Meantime, Obito was squinting his eyes as he studied the newcomer. His face suddenly lit up as he jumped into the long-haired man's arms and greeted him cheerfully.

"Uncle!"

"What?" Kakashi asked as the man put Obito back down and patted his head. "That's Sen?"

"Good job Obito. You become better at recognizing me. I'm a little disappointed that Kakashi, as a genius, couldn't."

Kakashi's face was turning red in anger and embarrassment as Obito laughed. "It's easy when you know the trick. You always keep something no matter what disguise you take."

"Oh? Do you now?" Sen said with curiosity.

"Yes! The mole next to your right ear!" Obito pointed and Sakumo saw the barely visible mole there that he hadn't noticed before.

"Great job, Obi. That's a lesson well learned. No matter the Henge, most people like to keep something characteristically in then, be it the shape of the eyes, the color of the hair, the gender or a mole in my case. You have earned a new set of shurikens for that and a private lesson in throwing them."

While Obito cheered at his reward, Sakumo felt something pull at his sleeve. He looked down to see Kakashi frowning at him.

"Why didn't you teach me that? I want to get a lesson in throwing shuriken with you for the trouble."

Sakumo smiled in confusion at his son's strange request. "But you already know how to throw shurikens."

"I don't care!"

:-----------------------------------:

Once at home, Sen dropped the Henge and sat down on the sofa, laughing while holding his stomach. "Oh the face you made Kakashi when I said I was your dad's date. It was priceless! Ah, I should have activated my Sharingan to keep it forever imprinted in my memory."

"Shut up!" an embarrassed blush painted the little part visible of the younger's cheeks. "And you stop laughing!" he said to Obito who was laughing too. Kakashi then launched himself at Obito and the two started to wrestle on the ground.

"You like teasing him, I see." Sakumo looked at Sen watching the two boys rolling on the ground, raising his legs so they wouldn't bump into them.

"Yeah. That kid is way too serious for his age. He needs to act more like a child than the genius everybody expects him to be. Soon enough he will have to fight and kill, so he needs to savor his childhood while he can."

Sakumo was surprised by the sincere answer. He… hadn't expected that. It was true that Kakashi acted like a grown up most of the time, but Sakumo hadn't seen the harm it could do to his kid. He felt a bit ashamed to realize he barely spent any quality time with his son except when he requested training. The kid was only 6 and they never went out to play since he turned 3.

"You are right. I forgot most of the time he is only 6 with how smart he is."

Sen turned his head in his direction to look at him. "Don't let all that genius get to your or his head. I have seen geniuses die in battle, thinking they could manage everything on their own since everyone had high expectation for them. They need to know there is nothing wrong in failing or to not understand and ask for help. He has good potential, but this could lead him to his death if he tries to grow too fast."

Sakumo grimaced but bowed his head. "Thank you for your advice." But Sen waved it off.

"It's nothing. I have seen the wrong it does to all the Uchiha's children. They are expected to have a Sharingan by a certain age, you know? If you don't get it before that deadline, you are considered a failure and completely ignored, even from your parents. If you get it before, then more responsibilities and expectation are pushed on you and you do everything to make everybody proud and accept you. They are no longer children, but mini soldiers barely reaching your hips. I find it disgusting."

Sen then stayed silent, looking in front of him to a faraway place, or maybe the past. Sakumo wasn't sure which. "And in which category did you found yourself?" He couldn't help but ask. Sen then barely jerked and stood up, telling he needed to use the bathroom. Sakumo then knew that the Anbu hadn't meant to reveal that much. He couldn't help but feel happy to have gotten the other's point of view. It meant that Sen was slowly letting his guard down around him and showing a little more of who he truly was, despite wanting to make the world believe he was nothing more than a shadow.

They ate dinner then trained outside as promised. Sen was helping Obito to improve his aim, while Sakumo was helping Kakashi. In truth, Kakashi didn't need his help since he was able to throw nine out of ten hitting the target without any difficulties. Sen then proposed to switch, to see if a different method could help. Sakumo was happy to help Obito. Obito told him that his Uncle instructed him to take his time in aiming before throwing the weapon, but it didn't seem to work for him as he hated to wait. The older Hatake tried a new approach. He made Obito stand at first at three steps from the target to see how much he could get. It was easy for Obito and he managed all the six shuriken in his hand. Then they tried at four steps, followed by five and six. It was at the seventh that Obito started to have trouble and only got two. Sakumo made him go back and forth between the sixth and seventh steps, until Obito could hit the target without any problem. The boy was beaming once he managed to get all in the target at seven steps of distance. It seemed this method was more appropriate for him. When Sakumo let Obito train by himself, he looked around to see how Kakashi was faring on his training with their Anbu guest. Sen was teaching Kakashi how to throw the stars sideway without looking directly at the target but just with his peripheral vision. He was impressed to see his son having trouble with that part. Sen then waved him over to let the father continue to instruct his son.

The masked man left shortly after their training, promising his nephew that on his next visit, he would come with a brand new set of custom made shurikens, far better than the ones the academy gave them.

Sakumo was happy to have accepted Sen's money in exchange of this pseudo date.

He wouldn't mind getting another date and learn more about the mysterious Sen.

:-----------------------------------:

Sen was happy to have been able to spend some time with Obito after missing his birthday. It was strange and fascinating to see his own younger face look back at him with such adoration. It took him a few months to completely dissociate himself with the Obito present on this time, but now he saw him as a simple child he knew how to help; like some little brother. He liked to see Obito being more assured and confident each time he visited, to see with his own eyes how he could have turned out, had someone believed in him; see a brighter future emerge for the kid he had been in the past. The child that called him uncle was no longer the same Obito that the white-haired and scarred man had been in his childhood.

Sen cast an Henge on his appearance, making him appear as a young lady in Shinobi's clothes, with brown hair tied in a spiky high ponytail and large green eyes. He smiled as he left the small mole next to his ear – a habit he got in Konoha for Obito's sake – before moving in the direction of the weapons' shop. There he politely greeted the shop owner and asked to see the shuriken he had and observed what the older man put on display for him. Sen studied each model, the size, weight, length of the blades, before he decided on one in particular.

"You sure about your choice?" The old man asked as he studied Sen's feminine hands.

"Ah, yes! It's actually a gift for my friend's cousin, a little Uchiha. I would like to custom a set of ten by making a small orange line around the circular center of each one. How long will it take?"

"For the custom, three days. I still have a previous order to finish. But you sure you want to give that to an Uchiha? I heard they don't like anything not coming of their district." The owner grumbled once he heard it was for an Uchiha.

"None sense, grandpa!" Sen grinned at the older man. "First, it is for a cute little boy that just started academy. Seconds, Uchihas aren't that bad. They are just more numerous so they always have someone of the clan on different professions and no one wouldn't prioritize giving work to their family. Thirdly, you know that all clans are like that. Hyugas are no better with their Dojutsu and the Aburame are no less secretive… if maybe less obnoxious than some elder Uchiha. But it would be wrong to put all of them in the same boat!" Sen pouted with his round lips.

The old weapon's dealer blinked in surprise before laughing out loud. "You are one feisty young lady, I see! You are right on how wrong it is to judge a whole group on hearsay and behavior of a few individuals. My bad."

Sen beamed as a delighted young girl would and quickly nodded. "Right? And I'm sure the others would find your work impressive too. See you in three days, grandpa!"

Sen left the shop with a wave and walked into a deserted alley to use Kamui unnoticed. Once on the Anbu's base, he dropped his Henge and walked into the dormitory. The room was empty, so Sen laid down on the bed he appropriated for himself, to think for a moment. He had saved Sakumo and helped Obito get the support he needed in a family that he would share with Kakashi. Ame was safe with Yahiko still alive and now in control of the village. Nagato had been warned about Zetsu and there were no ROOT shinobis left in Ame. That's for what he had achieved so far. For what still needed to be done? Iwa… will definitely be a threat if there is a war, but they still had time on that side. For Kiri, Sen was a little divided in his opinion. For now, the third Mizukage was still in place and would be until the third shinobi world war when he died from unknown reason. Sen hadn't cared about what happened at that time, just that there was a new Mizukage that he could use to get revenge on Kiri for what they did to Rin. Now that he knew the truth about Madara and Zetsu's involvement in Rin's death, he was less hostile about Kiri. He would keep an eye on the current Mizukage and make sure that the village would get rid of its nickname of "the village of the bloody mist"... It was the least he could do for Kisame. For the rest of the villages, he wasn't too concerned.

In Konoha, there are still things he needed done. The first coming to his mind was Danzo. He needed to keep a close eye on him and Root's action because he was sure the old geezer had more tricks in his sleeves. He needed to find a way to stop Orochimaru's experiments, too. The next steps would be to prevent the Uchiha's rebellion. Even if he had been mostly responsible of the clan's massacre, the coup d'état hadn't been his doing. The clan will have to get better integrated in the village and he will make sure that Itachi and Shisui won't have to resort to drastic and desperate way to stop their family. He will try to help the Hyuga too… and it had nothing to do with him getting closer to Hawk. It was just evident that the Hyuga was from the Branch house with the cursed seal on his forehead and Sen wanted to try stopping that stupide discrimination.

In conclusion, his priority was keeping an eye on Danzo's activities and start with the Uchiha slowly. Just as the beginning of a procedure was drawn in his mind, the door of the dorms opened and laughter filled the silence.

"Hey! Look at that, Sen is back!" Tiger said cheerfully as the other greeted their returned comrade. Cat smiled at him and Sen sat up on his bed to nod at her.

"Congratulation for your daughter."

Cat blinked in surprise and turned from where she had gone to fetch her uniform to face the usually loner of their group. "Thank you… I didn't know… that you knew…"

"For a shinobi, information is vital. Of course I know that you birthed a child in good health." Sen then suddenly noticed the silence that fell on the room. Tiger was looking at him with his mouth open, Cat was smiling at him as if he was some strange child, Wolf snorted and ignored him like he usually did while Hawk only watched him quizzically. "What." Sen didn't ask but demanded.

"Ah," Cat said while looking around for some help. "It's just that… usually-"

The door opened again and this time Bear and Owl, not really members of their team, entered the room in their full uniform before stopping on the spot.

"What's going on?" Owl asked with her hands on her hips as she looked from Tiger still looking stunned, Cat gesticulating with her hand to Sen.

"OH MY GOD! Hirota!" Tiger said as he held Hawk by the shoulders. "Sen actually cares!"

"Tch. That's too troublesome. I'm leaving." And Sen body-flickered out of the dorms while Tiger explained what happened.

"Hey," Owl elbowed Cat. "I think now that he is half Uchiha and half Nara. I'm serious."

Cat laughed at the comment, preferring not to think what such a mix would turn into a person… and now the probabilities were popping in her head. Damn.

……………

**Omake** (courtesy of Shinkan, beta-reading this fic):

  


Kakashi walked towards the kitchen, the clock chimed once, the sound reverberated down the hall seeming to call out the ungodly hour. A faint light could be seen with sounds of clatter and muttering.

“What are you doing?” Kakashi said in a bored tone.

Obito let out a squeak and dropped an egg, both boys looked at the mess on the ground then back at each other.

“That was your fault” Obito responds.

Kakashi rolls his eyes and goes to get a wash cloth, turning back he says again. “So what are you doing?”

“I dont want to tell you”

“Why?”

“Because you will mock me”

“I won’t”

“Yes you will”

“No I won’t”

Obito looks at Kakashi

“Ok I’m making a bento for my uncle, I don’t think he eats good enough.” Obito figited

“At 1:00 am?” Kakashi says as he points out the time

“You don’t understand, you have your dad, I didn’t have anyone, no one cared about me.....I don’t ....I don’t know what to due if I loose him....” he trails off with a sniffle

“Pass me those eggs”

“What?” Obito asked as he wipes his eyes

“Your right I don’t understand, but your also wrong you have me and my dad. Now pass me the eggs” Kakashi says while looking away refusing to look at obito.

Obito smiles and hands over the eggs

……………………………

The next morning Sakumo enters his kitchen to find a huge mess, on the counter are two wrapped bentos one says for Dad the other for Uncle.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still cute and fluffy for now and Sen added a few new members in his little group this time.  
> Hope you like.  
> If you do, leave a kudo or a comment!

Sen appeared in the outskirt of Konoha. He bit his thumb and slammed his hand on the ground, in a flash a summoning circle appeared filled with smoke in the space. In the center was now standing a white little fox with red markings under its eyes, on the paws and the tip of its tail and a large sacred rope tied around its neck.

"My, my," Said a feminine voice coming from the fox. "It's been some time since my Nameless master summoned me."

"Yuna, how many times do I have to ask you to call me Sen?" the masked man sighed.

The vixen known as Yuna huffed while turning her head away. "Well, excuse me mister I-trace-a-line-instead-of-my-name-in-a-summon-contract. Seriously, it's unheard of someone signing a summon contract with only tracing a line in place of writing the name. It's very disrespectful."

"Yet, you come each time I call you."

"Of course. I'm curious and you are interesting!" Yuna purred.

Sen rolled his eyes. It was on pure luck that he fell upon the fox's summoning contract a year ago. In his original timeline, the scroll disappeared after the tragic events that cost the Yondaime's death. He found the scroll during one of his mission and decided to keep it on a whim, as it reminded him of a blond boy brighter than the sun with dreams larger than the sky in which he shared the color of his eyes. It took him two weeks before Sen made his decision. Once the scroll was open, he hovered with his bloody finger over the name's space before tracing a single line and adding his fingerprints. He wasn't sure if it would work, but Yuna did come at his summon.

"I need eyes to inform me who enters and leaves the village outside of missions."

"Not watching Obito or the White Fang?" the vixen tilted her head.

"Not this time. They should be safe now. I want to know Root's whereabouts, see if Danzo will be trying something. Do you think you could manage that on your own?"

Yuna hummed before shaking her head. "Nope. Too much surface area, even if I split myself. I would need the help of at least another."

With a nod, Sen slammed his hand back down. This time, it was an orange fox with a green vest. "Kai, I want you to watch the southern half of the forest surrounding the village while Yuna will go to the northern part. You can split in as many copies as you need, but be sure to inform me if you see Root's shinobis leaving the village."

The orange fox grinned as he looked at his summoner. "'Hello Kai, how are you doing?' 'Well, thank you for asking Sen! It has indeed been a long time!'"

Sen sighed. "Should I get Ko instead?"

Kai's eyes widened before he jumped on the man's legs. "Nonono! I can do it! You don't need to bring my big brother, I promise!"

Sen watched the animal a moment longer before picking it by the fur of the neck and putting him down as he stood up. "Alright. I'm counting on you two."

The orange bushy tail wagged before the small fox rushed to his post. Yuna walked around, undulating her tail graciously as she watched the masked man. "You have changed." she said but elaborated as the man tilted his head to the side. "You are no more constantly… on guard. See you soon, Nameless master." And with that the white fox disappeared into the forest.

Sen frowned at what his summon said. He realized that his multiple visits of the Hatakes and Obito had changed him. Not so long ago, he barely had any contact with other people, even his visits to Obito had been twice a month at best. Now he met the trio every week. He put that aside in the back of his mind as he still had things to do. He ran to the Uchiha's district to see if he could gauge the atmosphere around and maybe get a glimpse on how Itachi was doing.

:-----------------------------------------:

Itachi was training in his clan's training ground. As he did his katas, he kept an eye and his senses on alert and… there it was. Since a couple of days, Itachi had felt the concealed presence of someone in the nearby trees. He had continued his exercises those previous day as if nothing, guessing that it could be a coincidence if someone was there at the same time as him or that the person would come to talk to him if they had some business with him. But that person stayed hidden until he went back home without addressing him at all in the time they were spying on him. Now it would be the third day and Itachi was getting frustrated by his mysterious stalker.

Once his katas finished, the young boy turned in the direction of the trees. "I know you are there." It took a minute, but eventually the person appeared a few steps from him. "Who are you and what do you want?" Itachi tensed and was on guard. The man before him was wearing the Anbu's uniform, although his mask wasn't the standard animal one the shinobid of his class wore.

"Oh, you are quite good to have been able to detect me. Nice to meet you, my name is Sen. And you must be the little prodigy Itachi that all the Uchiha's clan talk about?"

Itachi took a kunai into his small hand. "I asked you what do you want. You are not allowed here. This is the training ground exclusively for the Uchiha's clan."

The Anbu crouched down and waved at him. "Don't worry. I'm not here to hurt you. I just wanted to see you in person. How old are you? 6? 5?"

"I'm 4 years old. But I will be 5 this year." Itachi answered as he lowered his weapon but not putting it away.

"Wow, so young and already an expert in detecting chakra. I'm impressed." The man then pulled out something from his pocket that he held into his hand in Itachi's direction. "Here, this is a gift for you." As Itachi wasn't moving closer, the man then threw the object a few feet away from the boy. Itachi went to pick it up and noticed it was a wooden bird. "I heard that you liked crows, so I carved you a wooden one." Itachi watched suspiciously the wooden object before casting a jutsu and setting the bird on fire before letting it drop on the floor. As he looked back, the Anbu just stood up and shrugged. "It's yours. You do with it as you want. See you again, Itachi." The man then body flickered out of the training area.

Itachi wondered what all that was about before deciding to get back to his home.

The young Uchiha quickly noticed that his stalker turned into a permanent presence when he was training. The man only came when he was alone, never showing himself when he was training with his father or an elder cousin. Whenever he was alone, the man would appear and sit on the border of the training ground, watching him in silence. Itachi tried to find other places to train, but at the exception of his family's backyard, the strange man always found him so Itachi continued while ignoring him.

"Your gravity center is to low," was the first thing the Anbu said to him after a week of watching him silently. Itachi stopped his Taijutsu's training to face the man in silence. "If you want to go from kick to punch, you need to get your gravity center a little higher when you kick so you won't have to overbalance when you go to punch."

"I didn't ask for your help," Itachi stated making the man shrug while he sat against a tree.

"And I was just thinking out loud."

Itachi turned back to his training but readjusted his gravity center. He noticed that this Sen was right. By doing so, he could hit faster. The man said nothing for the rest of the training before he left five minutes before Itachi was about to head back home. The young boy soon noticed that the Anbu always left small gift on the spot he sat while watching Itachi. It was always some toys or trinkets of sweets.

He ignored them at first, but as time went on and the man appeared to be none threating, Itachi started to take them back home. He was always careful to inspect them meticulously before eating or playing with them. Shisui had been entranced by the spinning top Itachi got and they both played to see which one could make it spin the longest.

As time went on, Itachi got accustomed of Sen helping him. The man was a great source of advice, not minding demonstrating for him when needed. It was when the man was demonstrating him how to perform the Great Fireball while touching his chest to show him where he should hold the accumulated chakra before releasing it that Itachi noticed that he had willingly let the man into his personal space without it bothering him.

"How do you know this technic? You aren't a Uchiha." Itachi eventually asked.

Sen squatted down at his level and pointed at his right eye. "Look closer."

Itachi looked at the hole of the mask and saw the black eye turn red with three tomoes spinning in it. He blinked in surprise. "You are an Uchiha?"

Sen chuckled. "Yes, but it is a secret. Only a few are aware and it's better like that for now. So I would like you to keep it a secret too." He tapped Itachi's forehead with two fingers.

He then handed a small box of dangos that Itachi took. "Here. You can share that with your little friend." And then he disappeared a few seconds before Shisui called for him.

Shisui was overjoyed to see Itachi with dangos and quickly forgot his plan to train with him in favor of eating the treat. It was rare for them to get sweets in the clan, since they were told sweets was for babies and they both grown enough to not need it.

It took another week before Itachi decided to present Shisui to Sen. The young heir had asked his cousin to meet him at home so he will show him a secret. Shisui was more than enthusiastic to learn a secret and followed Itachi to the training ground.

"That's the training ground. Do you want to show me a secret Jutsu?" Shisui asked puzzled. He had hoped this secret to be something more interesting.

"Wait." Itachi told him before he turned to the trees. "Sen! Are you there? You can come out. Shisui promised he won't tell anyone."

Shisui wondered what his cousin was calling then he gasped and fell on his butt when someone appeared before them.

"Oh, you brought your little friend?" The Anbu asked as he looked at Shisui who was gapping at him.

"Wha-! Who-!" Shisui tried to ask when Itachi helped him on his feet.

"This is Sen. He helps me sometime to train and he is the one that gave me the candies and the toys. Sen, this is my cousin and best friend, Shisui."

"Nice to meet you, Shisui. It's been a long time since I have seen an Uchiha with such a curly fluffy mop of hair." He patted Shisui's head. "Yep, very fluffy."

Shisui batted the hand away before turning to his cousin. "Itachi! Strangers shouldn't be allowed here without permission!"

Itachi was about to say that he could since he was an Uchiha before he remembered his promise. "He is my friend," he told instead.

Shisui eyed the grown man suspiciously before nodding. "Alright. I won't tell. But you will have to bride me with candies too!"

Sen laughed as he ruffled Shisui's hair. "Yes, yes. I will bring you candies and toys too. Now, what do you want to do today?"

:--------------------------------------------:

Obito was asked by his Uncle to come with Kakashi to the training ground next to the Uchiha's district and meet him there. They waited a moment before Kakashi turned impatient.

"He tell us to come here and he is late?"

"Patience is a virtue, Kakashi," said Sen's voice from behind, making both boys jump in surprise. "And we are waiting for the others to come."

"Who are we waiting for, Uncle?" Obito asked, but his Uncle only turned his head and pointed somewhere on their left side. Obito turned and beamed once he saw his two little cousins. "Itachi! Shisui! Uncle, you invited them both too?" Obito was delighted. It had been his birthday the last time he saw his two favorite cousins.

"You two know Sen too?" Itachi asked as Obito rubbed Shisui's hair into a mess, making this one squeal in indignation. "Uncle?" he then asked?

"Un." Obito nodded after releasing curly-haired's head. "It's been two years since I knew him. And since I didn't know his name at first, I started to call him Uncle."

"Alright," Sen clapped his hands together. "Since we are all here, let's start to play."

Kakashi frowned while crossing his arms over his chest. "I didn't come here to play. If it's that, I better go home to train."

Sen stopped Kakashi by gripping the back of his shirt. "None of that. It may be a game, but we are going to do ninja's game. Let's start with the ninja's version of Duck, Duck, Goose."

They all sat in circle when Sen explained the rules. At the difference of the formal game, this one was a bit more interesting. The *It had to infuse the smallest bit of chakra on the handkerchief while walking behind the circle of player. While everyone sitting had their eyes closed, they needed to detect if *It had silently dropped the chakra infused handkerchief behind them and chase *It before he took their place. It helped practice at the same time detection, control of chakra, discretion and speed. All the kids were fascinated by the game and played for hours before Sen changed the game.

After that, they went for the Hopscotch. Sen drew the usual design but added trap in the cases. Some were activated and some weren't. the cases were tricky too. Some were tilted, some were in a different texture and some undulated or spined. The trap switched depending on where the rock was thrown. It was a game of both detection and agility. The four children were surprised and fascinated to have such a simple game turn into something fun and useful.

"I have kept the best for the grand final which I'm sure you will all find interesting, at the exception of Obito, maybe." All looked at Obito, who shrugged as he had no idea. "You four will fight as a team against me to try get my mask. Everything is allowed, be it Taijutsu, Genjutsu or Ninjutsu. Is everyone ok with that?" the four children cheered, some more enthusiast than other but all eager to see Sen without his mask. "Then you have five minutes to get a plan and ten to try to get my mask."

The four kids went on a circle to try get a tactic up. Sen let them be before he announced the beginning of the game. It was a very chaotic fight as none truly knew how to fight as a team. Sen had to admit he had fun. He evaded, blocked attacks and hide as the kids rushed at him. When they bickered too much, Sen gave them the minutes they still had before the end of the game, which resulted in them attacking him again. As he announced the end, all kids were tired. Sen congratulated them and gave them advice to better work as a team.

"Can we try again next time?" Shisui asked.

"Of course. With repetition you will get better. I will come with new game for-" Sen froze, then disappeared.

All children were confused before Fugaku's voice calling for Itachi was heard. The head of the clan walked to the small group and watched his son.

"Good morning, father." Itachi said.

Fugaku eyed with a frown Obito, who quickly greeted his uncle with a bow, before looking at Shisui who smiled at him then looking back at his son, completely ignoring Kakashi. "You have more important things to do than playing here, son."

"I was actually training, father," Itachi replied.

"Yeah!" Shisui nodded enthusiastically. "We were all training together and it was even fun!"

Fugaku raised an eyebrow at that. "As long as you don't slack off and show progress." The older man nodded.

"He is only 4, uncle. He can't only train. He need to play too." Obito dared to say.

Fugaku watched Obito with disdain. "If that's what you learn with the Hatake, I'm not sure your presence there will help you become a great shinobi. Maybe I should reconsider the Hokage's demand and bring you back to someone in the clan."

Obito was looking at the ground in silence as fear and anguish brought tears in his eyes. It was Kakashi that walked up to Obito's defense.

"My father is a great shinobi and takes good care of me and Obito. I won't allow you to talk about him like that. Plus, Obito prefers to be with us. Just because he doesn't train 24/7 doesn't mean he will turn into a failure."

Obito looked at Kakashi with surprise. It was the first time the silver-haired boy came to his defense. He rubbed his eyes with his sleeve and watched the head's clan with a determined looked.

"Yeah! Just you wait. I will be the first Uchiha to become Hokage!"

Fugaku was a bit surprised to have the boy talk back to him like that. He turned then back to his son. "Anyway, I came to tell you your mother had prepared lunch and came to fetch you."

Itachi and Shisui left with Fugaku, waving good-bye to the two remaining kids. Obito looked at his feet a moment before talking to the silver-haired boy. "You really think so? Do you think I will be a great shinobi?"

Kakashi grimaced under his mask before rubbing his hair with one hand. "I don't know for the great part, but I'm sure you will be a good shinobi with time and training. And you don't want to go back to someone of your clan, right?" He saw Obito shake his head while biting his lower lip. "Then you stay with us and train hard. I'm sure dad won't want you to leave too. Now let's go back home. I'm hungry." Kakashi then took Obito's hand and lead him to their home. They both walked hand in hand, even when they started to bicker eventually.

In the trees, Sen watched the scene with a smile. He felt his heart warm at the sight of the two children walking away. It was nice to see this Obito get the family he deserved.

.............................

**Omake (by Shinkan)**  


It started small....

At first it was just the four children playing the game, but at school one day during lunch brake, Obito told Rin about the game, whom in turn told Yugao, who told Genma, who told Gai, who just had to learn this game with his rival, so of course the whole class heard and came to play it, which in turn was later taught to the younger siblings and kids at the playgrounds, soon the game was known throughout The whole of Konoha.

The teachers were stumped they had no idea where the game came from, the parents happy for their kids having fun learning, the Jonin Impressed with its practicality, the chunin not really caring ether way, the older genin jealous because it looked like fun.

Kakashi turned to Obito “this is all your fault”

“No its not it's Uncle's fault”

Somewhere Sen sneezed.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How about mixing a bit of Hyuga in all this? :)

Reading on his bed at the Anbu dormitory, Sen sat up when Hawk walked in the room to change, he watched the Hyuga silently.

Hirota could feel the gaze one his back as he changed. Once done he turned around and faced his masked teammate. "Is… there something I can help you with?" he asked, not used to have the taciturn member pay such attention to him.

Sen stayed silent before he nodded. "You are from the Branch family of your clan, correct?"

Hirota frowned but nodded. "Yes. What about it?"

"I heard all the members of that part had a seal on them. Do you have one too?"

The Hyuga tensed but gave a short nod. "Yes. It is mandatory that everybody of the Branch part get a cursed seal on the third birthday of the clan's heir. I got mine when Hiashi turned three." Hirota became defensive at the sensitive subject. Nobody asked questions about it. Not even members of his family talked about the seals among themselves.

"I know it's a strange request, and I won't take it bad if you refuse but… would you mind showing it to me? As I said, it's just curiosity and I won't be offended at all if you don't want to. I know it's a sensible subject for all the Branch members, but I know you… and…" Sen then looked away, rubbing his white hair with his gloved hand.

Hirota watched the definitely uncomfortable man sitting before him. It WAS a sensitive subject but Sen was a member of the Anbu and since the time that he knew the mysterious man, this one had never asked anything from his team. When others asked him for money, he gave it to them and never asked for it to be returned. When someone asked him to switch on a mission for some reason, he did it without questions or complains. It really was the first time that Sen asked something for himself and that was what made Hirota lean in favor of agreeing.

"If I show you the seal, will you show me your face in return?" the Hyuga asked and wasn't surprised when the other quickly shook his head. "One could try," he sighed. "I will show you if you say my name."

"Hawk." Sen quickly answered.

Hirota smiled and shook his head. "No, my real name. Not my codename."

Sen pondered in silence for a moment. "Hi…o…na?" he tilted his head on the last syllable.

The Hyuga laughed. How ironic it was for the person he had worked with for two years to not know his name. But that was so Sen. "Close, but not quite. It's Hirota."

Sen mumbled the name, as if testing the consonance before nodding. "Hirota Hyuga."

Hirota smiled. He had such a soft spot for this strange man. It was the first time he saw him this vulnerable. How could he tell him no? "Alright. But only once. I don't… really like to show it to people. It is, after all, a curse seal."

Hirota sat on the bed next to Sen and removed his headband. Once the seal visible, Sen scrutinized its detail. It was after half a minute that the other slowly raised his hand and delicately ran a glowed finger over it.

"Why do this to someone of their family?" Sen whispered, definitely not meaning to say it out loud.

Hirota smiled sadly and answered none the less. "To preserve the secret of the Byakugan."

Sen quickly pulled his hand away, as he had not been aware of what he was doing and apologized. "Thank you for showing me. I know it wasn't something you like to do."

"I don't mind if it's you who ask. We are friends after all."

Sen blinked and nodded slowly. "Yes. Thank you, Hirota."

:--------------------------------------------------------------:

During night-time, Sen went to the archive of the Hyuga's compound. After taking a moment to make sure he hadn't been noticed, he used his Sharingan to memorize everything there was about the cursed seal the Main family put on the Branch. It was easy for him to get there and leave undetected thanks to his Kamui. Once back at the dorm, alone as most of the time, he started to write everything about the seal and tried to dissect it. As he worked, he suddenly banged his head against the wall in frustration. This was going to be a rough one and he would need to improve his knowledge in Fuinjutsu before he could achieve what he wanted. He remembered Haw-Hirota smiling and calling him a friend. How couldn't he try?

Well, he was adding a new objective to those he already has. After all what was one more?

…

He had a friend.

:--------------------------------------------------------:

Sen came to the Hatake compound on his weekly visit. Sakumo greeted him politely as Obito bounded towards him before being told to return to his homework. Which he did with a lot of complaints.

"Your greeting me this time, I see," Sakumo grinned as Sen watched him in confusion. "Last week, you only went out with the boys and never came to spend time with me. I'm hurt."

"I'm sure your poor little heart will get over it." Sen replied.

Sakumo laughed at that. "How can you say that? I like the time we spend together."

"Yeah, I'm wonderful company. At least I'm sure it's not for my looks. Not hard to find someone better looking than a half disfigured freak."

"It's not that bad, once you get used to it," Obito offered. Kakashi elbowed him with a shush, wanting to gather any information by keeping a low-profile.

"Obito is right," Sakumo agreed. "It's not as bad as you seem to believe. I told you I found you handsome and I was honest. I wouldn't mind looking at your face."

Sen laughed harshly. "I know what I look like. I don't need the pity of any of you."

"I'm serious," Sakumo said with a straight face.

Sen was silent a moment before he spoke, the smile definitely audible in his voice despite the mask hiding any facial expression. "Yeah… you are definitely the kind of man that could make any woman fall for you. Once you get over your wife's death, you will have no problem finding a pretty, young woman, sweet and friendly as you deserve."

Kakashi then groaned loudly. "Why are we now talking about my dad finding a girlfriend?"

Sen hummed as he rubbed his chin. "I wonder that too. But your father is still young and you may have a stepmother one day. But I didn't come here to talk about that. I'm leaving for a short mission soon and I wanted to ask a favor." Sen pulled out a folder that he put down on his lap and faced Sakumo. "I will be gone for a week or two and I would like to know if you could leave this here."

Sakumo took the folder and studied it. It didn't look like anything official and there was a small seal on the top, but no information about his content. "Why? What is it?"

" What's in there is not confidential or life-threating, more a personal project I’m working on; but it's not something I want any prying eyes to fall on. I live in the dorms where any Anbu can come and stay if they want too. I have no private space and I don't want to keep it on myself, just in case, so… could you keep this in your house for the meantime?"

"Oh. Sure. I don't mind keeping this safe for you."

Sen nodded and went to help Obito with his homework as Sakumo stood up and went to his bedroom. There, he removed a tatami on the corner of room and infused his chakra on a trivial stain there. A foot length and wide of the ground rose, allowing the man to remove it and reveal the small stash there. Sakumo always kept his important document or belongings there, to be sure nothing got stolen or misplaced, and decided that it would be better to put Sen's documents into this hiding place.

"Come ask me whenever you want it back." Sakumo informed as he sat down on the couch. "By the way, I wanted to tell you all that I will be taking missions again." Sakumo smiled when three heads turned in his direction. "The Hokage allowed my leave to be shortened, but I'm only allowed to do at most rank B missions until further ordered."

"That's good for you, Sakumo," Sen nodded. "You will be able to get slowly back to work like that."

"Why are you saying that?" Kakashi scowled. "My dad is one of the best shinobi in Konoha. He doesn't need to take things slowly."

Sen petted the young boy's head. "I know your dad is a great shinobi, but no one is above a mental break down. The more talented the shinobis, the less prone to ask for help they are. So it is protocol for shinobis to be put in mandatory leave before they do something stupid, so they can rest and set their priorities back."

Kakashi looked at his father who was looking down at his clasped hands and nodded. "Alright. Take your time," Kakashi said. "You will still be the best dad and a great shinobi no matter how long it takes."

Sakumo felt tears brim the corner of his eyes and he hid his eyes with a hand. His son was so mature. And in a moment of selfish folishness, he nearly left Kakashi behind, alone. "Yes, I will try harder. Thank-" as he turned to look at Sen, but he had already left. He closed his eyes and shook his head.

So typical of their mysterious guest.

:-----------------------------------------------------------:

Sen was on a mission with a group of three Jounin to retrieve some important document for a customer. He had been asked by another Anbu to switch with him, since he had an emergency at home, his mother getting sick and probably not having more time. Sen had agreed and was now with his team studying a building where said documents were kept. The compound was well guarded. Even after a week of watching, they couldn't find any routine or flaw. The Aburame present on the team was really useful. Unfortunately, no Hyuga were available for this mission, so they had to do with only an Aburame and two none clan members. Their team leader, a man with a scar on the left cheek was getting impatient.

"C'mon! Can't your bugs see any opening? It has been a week!"

"It is strange that they are so guarded… this is suspicious." The sole female of the group stated.

Sen nodded. "I agree. Why do they have so many guards? It's not normal." He didn't like that. It was as if they knew something was going to happen and were sure to keep all their people effectively on guard.

"This seems to be an illegal facility behind a disguise. They are mainly focusing on the production of something in the basement than in the room where their store their imported merchandise. Wait…The guards on the Eastern entrance have switched," The Aburame informed. "But it has been a minute and nobody else came to replace them."

"That's strange…" the female mused. They have never made such a mistake before.

"This is our chance!" their leader said. "You said the documents were in a room on the first floor, right?" The Aburame nodded. "Then lets discretely infiltrate the garden on the East side, before we make our way in. Aoi, you will keep guards out with the Anbu and inform us if you see anything suspicious. Takao and I will go inside, since he knows the way thanks to his bugs."

They all agreed and went to the Eastern entrance. As predicted, there was no guards at said entrance. They managed to enter without problem which put Sen even more on alert. He stayed behind, just inside of the building with the Kunoichi as ordered as the two other members went further in. He used his sense to detect any presence and froze as he noticed something.

"The mission scroll said there should be only regular humans and mercenaries, right?" as the woman nodded, Sen narrowed his eyes behind his mask. "So why do I detect fifteen concealed chakra presences here?" Just as Aoi gasped, Sen threw a kunai on his left and a body fell to the ground.

"Takao! Riku! It's a trap!" She screamed as she ran in their direction, quickly followed by Sen. Just as they reached the two others members, six shinobis fell on them. They fought and Aoi was eventually wounded on the leg.

Just as the last enemy fell, their leader gave them his order. "Takao! Go recover the document! Me and the Anbu will cover you. Aoi! Stay close!"

Just as Takao was about to run in the direction of their target, Sen spoke. "No. We should retreat."

"What?!" The leader shouted.

"The mission scroll definitely didn't spoke of any shinobi being present here and I can feel more hidden into the building. There is a high quantity of guards when no one should have been aware of our mission, the suddenly unguarded entrance, it was a trap set for us. Someone informed them of our arrival here."

Sen quickly deflected a rain of shuriken falling on him and the injured kunoichi next to him and let the two take care of the three shinobi that came into the corridor.

"A shinobi should always put the mission first!" their leader screamed. "Aoi! Get a grip of yourself or die helping your team finish the mission! Takao, go! That's an order of your leader!"

Sen released a powerful killing-intent that froze everyone there. He then ran to the leader and punched him unconscious before carrying him on his shoulder. "Aburame. We are retreating. Help your injured teammate. I will take responsibility of the failure of this mission." He then gritted under his teeth. "I'm not letting any of us die here meaninglessly."

The two remaining members quickly nodded and obeyed. Just as they reached the exit, the six still hidden shinobi rushed on them, followed by a group of a dozens of mercenaries. Sen then threw the unconscious body to Takao and Aoi and took a guard stance. "You three go already. I will keep them back until you are far enough away before joining you."

The two ran as fast as they could while carrying their leader. They could hear metal hitting metal and screams of agony but didn't turn around and kept running. Both were wondering how the Anbu with a line on his mask would survive and manage to join them with such a quantity of enemies fighting. Then, as they had been running for ten minutes, the Anbu suddenly appeared next to them.

"We are good. But keep running." He said as he jumped back on the trees branches above them.

Needless to say, once they came back to Konoha they directly went to report to the Hokage. Riku was furious, pointing at Sen for breaking two important rules of the shinobi codes. 1. The mission always come first, even at the price of a shinobi's life. 2. A shinobi must follow their commander's instruction. Sen stayed immobile as the man started how incompetent he had been, never correcting or trying to defend himself. It was only when the Hokage rose a hand to silence the angered man and ask Sen what he had to say that this one talk.

"The mission was tampered with and sabotaged ." He stated matter of fact. "First, the information of the scroll was deliberately incorrect, making the mission null and void. Secondly, the enemies were aware on our arrival. Somebody had informed them. Thirdly, the customer had ties with the drug dealers that were working undercover there – the document probably being about his link with the illegal activity – making him not an eligible client by Konoha's standards. Taking in consideration all those parameters, I decided the life of Konoha's shinobis was more important than the completion of this mission. I take full responsibility of any consequences and repercussion of this failure."

The Hokage smoked his pipe in silence as he watched Sen. After a long minute he addressed to the person present. "Having heard all those information, I can only approve the cancelation of this mission. The client obviously lied to us and I would have hated to lose some brave shinobi because of this. I know a mission should always come first, but not when everything is set for you to fail. All of you, be proud of yourself and go back home. Sen, I want to talk to you."

As the three other left, the Hokage activated his privacy seal before giving Sen an order. "Talk. I know you could have been able to recover this document without any problem."

"The shinobis present there were all from Root. I made sure to take care of all of them before leaving the building. This was clearly a plan set by Danzo to make us attack an undercover drug facility in a neighboring country. The plan was to have all of the team die and then accuse Konoha of having attacked an importation company without reason. He would have only needed one body to set a war between us and Iwa. I'm nearly certain that even the client was a fake, cast by him."

The Hokage put down his pipe and rubbed his eyes with one hand. "It would have been so much easier if it had just been your campaign to promote the life of our shinobi before the success of a mission… are you a hundred percent sure it was Root?"

"Affirmative. I have memorized every member of the Root's organization since I first came here. I have absolutely no doubt."

"…Danzo…" The Hokage groaned and he rested his forehead in his hand.

"If I may…" Sen started but was stopped by the raising hand that silenced him.

"No. I said I will take care of this."

Sen nodded slowly. "We are lucky this time that Snake couldn't join this mission and I took his place. Only one body of ours would have cost us peace, and they wouldn't have bothered to recover a fallen comrade thanks to that specific rule. I don't need to remind you how badly it all would have turned had I not been there. "

With that warning Sen left the tower, leaving the Hokage alone. This one took off his hat and rubbed his bald head as he studied it. When he put it back on, he deactivated the seal and called his secretary. "Please, plan a meeting with the council. I need to talk with them about the modification of one rule."

:--------------------------------------------:

Danzo was sitting in his office when one of his Root Anbu knocked at his door.

"Enter." A cloaked and masked figure appeared and knelt before him. "Report."

The masked agent nodded. "The mission has failed. All the other agents present there died. I'm the only survivor as I was posted outside the compound."

Danzo frowned. "All of them?"

"Yes," The Anbu nodded. "They were all killed by an unknown Anbu from Konoha."

"What do you mean by unknown?"

"From the document, it should have been Snake present with the team of Jounin sent there. Instead, it was someone with only a black line on his mask, not the standard animal one. Definitely male. They never called him by a code name, only by 'Anbu'."

"And you are telling me this person killed all of my agents by himself?"

"Affirmative. I saw it with my own eyes."

Danzo rubbed his chin. "Get me any information you can get from this unknown Anbu."

The Root member nodded and left. Danzo took out a folder and pulled out one by one the fifteen deceased members' paper before setting them on fire. Who was this man that singlehandedly killed fifteen well trained shinobis from Root? This was something he would have to keep his eye on. He couldn't get his plans ruined like that.

Omake?

You liked does little Omake until now? Then you should definitely go read on the link bellow if you want some cute, short stories about things that happen sideline of my own fanfiction.

[Not all lines are straight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25541992/chapters/61975447) by Shinkan 


	7. Chapter 7

Sen was torn. For two years, he had managed to avoid two particular people, but right now, he was in a ditch. He knew his knowledge of Fuinjutsu wasn't the best and he had already studied all he could form the library. He needed something more, something that only one person in particular possessed. He stood immobile in front of Kushina Uzumaki’s front door, he hesitated. He knew that she would have documents about seals that not even Konoha's library could dream of possessing. Uzumakis were known for their large knowledge on seals. If he wanted to help the Hyuga, more than his primary objective of studying the seal for future use, he would need a true master’s opinion. He would need to ask her to let him look at the documents she possessed.

He took a deep breath to give himself courage and knocked at the door.

"I'm coming!" said the joyful voice he remembered so well and he cringed internally. When the door opened, the woman was smiling before a frown appeared on her face at the sight of the masked man standing there. "Who are you?"

Sen watched her. She looked so beautiful and so young. The memories of her last moment appeared in his mind and he closed his eyes as he bowed.

"Good evening, miss Uzumaki. My name is Sen. I'm here to ask you a request."

Kushina blinked before nodding. "Go on."

"I would like you to let me access to the scrolls and books you had about seals. It is well known that Uzumakis are well versed in Fuinjutsu and I couldn't find anything useful in Konoha's library. So I came here to ask you to let me learn from your library."

"Who is there, Kushina?" a voice called from inside.

Sen tensed. He recognized this voice even if it had been more than two decades since the last time he heard it.

"Ah! Where are my manners. Please, come in." The woman pulled Sen inside by his arm.

"I don't want to disturb," Sen quickly added. "I can come back another time."

"None sense. You are already here. Minato! We have company!"

Sen entered the living room, still being pulled by the red-haired kunoichi and saw his former sensei sitting on a sofa. The man frowned once he saw the masked Anbu and Sen had a mini panic attack as he remembered the fight when he released the Kyubi in the village.

"What is an Anbu doing here?" Minato asked in a defensive way. It was, after all, uncommon to see an Anbu in full gear knocking at someone's door.

"He came to ask for something," the woman informed her boyfriend. "Sit here," she pushed Sen down on a sofa and went to sit next to the blond man.

"I really can come-" Sen tried to say but was stopped by Kushina waving her hand.

"Ah ah! None of that! Now, tell me why do you want to have access to the Uzumaki's library."

Minato's eyes widened in surprise but stayed silent. Sen sat straight and knotted his hands together. He had mentally prepared himself to see the woman he had killed in that other life, but he was not prepared to see the face of his former teacher now.

"Are you there?" the woman waved a hand in front of his face and Sen jolted at the proximity, since he hadn't seen her moving from her spot.

"Ah, yes. Like I said, I'm trying to find information about seals, but found nothing of any value in Konoha's library."

Kushina laughed loudly as she took back her previous place. "Of course you won't! There is not a lot of people here that have studied Fuinjutsu. Only Jiraya and Minato do and they don't put their discoveries in the village's library. But I want to know what you are looking for."

"I want to study ways to break and create seals."

"Why?"

Sen grimaced behind his mask. He had hoped against hope that it would be easier. "I want to help… a friend."

"How?" this time it was Minato who asked.

"Someone put a seal on him."

Kushina hummed before nodding. "Alright! I will let you read in my library, but you aren't allowed to take anything out from here."

"Kushina, are you sure?" Minato rested a hand on her shoulder. "You don't know anything about him."

The red-haired pushed his hand away. "I welcome everyone who wants to learn. Or are you saying I shouldn't have let you study here when you asked me all those years ago?"

As Minato rolled his eyes, Kushina jumped to her feet and lead Sen to the room where she kept all the information she owned about seal. She was very helpful, pulling out books and scrolls that would interest Sen. He was grateful since the room was huge and filled from floor to ceiling with bookcases full of books and scrolls. He took the armful of documents she gave him and thanked her before sitting on the floor.

"Call me if you need something else. But I think you will have your hands full for a while with that."

Sen nodded and started to read. As hours went on, Sen found himself fascinated with all the information there. Everything was so well written and detailed. He read book after book, scroll after scroll without seeing the time go. It was only when someone knocked at the doorframe that he raised his head and saw Kushina and Minato standing there, watching him.

"Humm..." Kushina started with a small troubled smile. "It's getting late; you know?"

Sen looked at the clock on the wall and was surprised to see it was already a quarter to midnight. "Oh. Sorry. I will put all of this back and…"

Kushina chuckled as she waved her hand in dismiss. "There is no need. You can leave it all there. I'm sure you will come back to finish it anyway."

Sen stood up and bowed. "I really appreciate your help."

Minato smiled at him. "It's not often that we see someone as fascinated as us in Fuinjutsu."

Sen curtly nodded. "Then I wish you a good night," and with that he body flickered out of the house.

"What a strange man. But it has been a long time since I saw someone as interested as you in seal," Kushina grinned at Minato.

The blond nodded. "What did he say his name was?"

"Sen. But I never heard of a Sen in the village before. What about you?"

Minato frowned as he searched his memory. "Neither have I. And his Anbu's mask wasn't the usual one too."

"An eccentric one! I like it!"

Minato laughed. "I’m sure you do."

:---------------------------------------------------:

It became a regular occurrence. Sen would go frequently near the end of the day or on the weekend to ask access to the Uzumaki's library. Kushina was always more than happy to let him in and quickly put a stop to the 'miss Uzumaki' none sense. She often stayed to help him when he looked like he had trouble understanding something or stayed in the room to study herself as she hadn't read all the books there.

It soon turned into a meeting where she chatted about things that had happened to her, complaining about people making fun of her hair or things she thought that were stupid. Sen was a good interlocutor. He listened and debated with her, never judging or making fun of her way of thinking, not even when she proposed that they should find a way to make ramen a food ration for shinobis in missions. He was only a little more reserved when Minato was present in the room with them. Usually, Minato was the friendly one that people liked more to talk to than her. She was happy to have, for once, someone that liked her more than her boyfriend.

Sen came one evening to the Uzumaki house and was surprised when Minato greeted him instead of Kushina.

"Hello, come in." the blond smiled at the masked man.

Sen nodded and walked in, surprised to not find the red-haired kunoichi there. "Kushina is not here?"

"Not today. She has an outing with Mikoto tonight and won't be home before morning. But she asked me to wait here and let you in if you came."

"I don't want to bother," Sen said as he walked backward to the entrance.

"Don't leave, please. She will get angry at me if she knows that I didn't let you come work."

Sen stayed still for a moment before nodding and walked to the library as he usually did. He went to sit on the ground and started to read a book when Minato entered with two cups of tea. Sen frowned as the blond placed a cup next to him. "It's not good to drink while reading. One can stain the pages."

Minato laughed. "Oh, Kushina has no problem to eating while reading. I don't think she will mind you drinking a cup of tea, I can tell you."

Sen rose his mask enough to free his mouth and took a sip of tea before continuing to read the book he had on his lap.

"Why don't you remove your mask? It would be easier." Minato asked as he watched him.

"I don't remove my mask." Sen said without raising his eyes from the line he was reading.

"Why not? We are all Konoha's shinobi and I even know a few Anbus and what mask they wore. Or is it because of your scars?"

Sen tensed. Of course Minato would trick him by offering tea and see his scars. "That's none of your business." He said defensively. 

"Did I do something to you?"

Sen looked up in surprise. "What?"

Minato decided to clarify. "It's just that you don't seem to like me. Kuchina says that you talk a lot with her, but you always seem so closed and uncomfortable with me. I just wonder why."

Sen bit his lips as he tried to find a way to find a reason to give for his discomfort other than 'I tried to kill you in another life and you nearly killed me too'. "You are smart."

"And that's a bad thing?" Minato blinked.

Sen sighed. "You are too smart and cunning. You gave me tea to try to see my face, I know. Smart people always try to uncover a mystery and right now, you are trying to see who I am and what I'm trying to do. I don't like people spying on me or trying to discover what I want to keep hidden. I don't want to be your pet project."

Minato was shocked for a moment before he laughed. It was the first time someone called him on his act. "You are something else. But you are right, I'm intrigued by you. Most people don't know about you and the few that do, well, they don't know any more than I."

"So now you know why I don't like you." It was a lie. Sen feared to get too close to the man that had taught him so much and which he backstabbed. He didn’t deserve to be close to such a brilliant man. He feared that he could ruin him just by interacting with him. "People that live in the light shouldn't try to look to closely into the shadows of the world."

"So you see yourself as a shadow," Minato mussed. "But aren't we all shinobi shadows?"

"I am a shadow in the shadow. I am never meant to live in the light like others."

"That's a very sad way to live," Minato said after a moment of silence.

"That's how I have always lived."

Sen tried to ignore the heavy gaze as he continued to work on the note he was taking. He was getting closer on achieving his new seal and the book he had had a lot of information he needed. He was so engrossed on his work that he didn't notice the presence looming on his shoulder.

"You should change the left part of your seal. It won't work with the rest."

Sen was so surprised that he instinctively took a kunai and nearly stabbed the man behind him. Luckily, Minato wasn't any regular shinobi and easily deflected the attack.

"Don't do that again." Sen said calmly, even when his heart was pounding in his chest. For Kami's sake! He nearly killed his sensei. Again!

"Sorry," Minato smiled, undisturbed. "But you should change that part. It would be in conflict with the rest."

Sen looked at the section pointed and couldn't see were the problem was, but he none the less erased it. If Minato said one part wouldn't work, then it won't.

The blond sat down next to Sen and took a pen in his hands. "You should change it like this instead. It would harmonize and facilitate the transition from the main part to the second." Minato continued to study the lines drawn with a frown. "That is something interesting you are working on. It took me a while, since you apparently put unnecessary flourishes and decoys a bit everywhere, but I see the purpose now. This part targets the DNA," he pointed on the paper. "and rewrites it. But it's still not complete. That part contains the change on the head, but somewhere more centered, like the eyes... It's like you are trying to modify a kekkei genkai or a Dojutsu."

Sen quickly pulled back his sketched seal in the folder he always took with him before putting away the rest of his work and notes.

"But the center of the seal is the trigger." Minato continued to explain as he watched the man arrange his documents. "It allows an easier way to activate it by precisely adding chakra on the center in a particular way. Two short bursts of chakra, one long and a short one. That's the sequence to activate it. But why would someone modify themselves their-"

Minato went silent and Sen groaned and faced the man who was watching him with wide eyes. "You are too smart." Sen stated annoyingly as he stood up.

"You are making a new seal for the Hyuga." Minato voiced his thought. "You said you wanted to help a friend and all your work center on DNA and the eyes and can be easily activated by all age. But why are you doing this? I'm pretty sure the clan's head or their Elders haven't asked for a new seal. So why are you inventing a seal for them?"

"Because I see a clan tearing itself apart. I see people discriminating against other members or their own family and everybody looks the other way, doing nothing. I see people brand children with a cursed seal without anybody saying anything. I see people putting fucking bombs on other people and given free access to set them off and nobody is disapproving their acts." Sen advanced until he was standing very close to the blond. "So I decided that I, at least, will do something and not ignore this like everyone else."

Minato looked pained at those words but quickly recovered and looked at the lone black eye that he could see from this closeness. "You shouldn't get involved in clans' matter like that. If they learnt that you-" Minato's next words died in his throat as he saw on the previously dark eyehole an eye appears as Sen slowly opened his previously closed left eye. The blond was rendered speechless as he witnessed for the first time with his own eyes the most powerful Dojutsu existing on this world.

"Stay out of this," Sen ordered as he stared down at the blond, knowing the effect the Rinnegan would have on him. "I never asked for your help. You, a man that had worked with that clan, who had learned for years Fuinjutsu with masters and claim wanting to be the next Hokage, had done nothing until now. So, keep quiet and don't get in my way. Am I clear?" Sen didn't wait the answer as he felt a familiar presence suddenly appeared in the room. Behind him was now standing Tiger, fully clothed in his Anbu's uniform.

"Sen," Tiger called. "The Hoakage is summoning you immediately."

Sen nodded and Tiger left with the knowledge that his fellow Anbu got the message. Sen, instead of storing the document in the storage seal tattooed on his right arm, kept the folder in his hand and used Kamui to put it in his pocket dimension while turning his face away to hid it to the blond. He deactivated his Sharingan before looking back at Minato, feeling a bit of satisfaction at the surprise on his face.

"I wish you a good evening, Minato Namikaze." Sen bowed and body flickered to the Hokage's office.

"You asked for me?" Sen bowed and waited for the older man to either speak or activate the privacy seal to gauge the turn of this conversation. When he felt the seal being activated, he raised his head and saw the old man looking at him with a serious expression. "What happened?"

"Somebody broke into my office last night and the seal on your file was activated."

Sen tensed. Who could have done that? He had a name on the tip of his tongue, but… it was impossible for Danzo to be aware of his existence. He religiously avoided any Root shinobi when in the village, except when he wore a Henge, and never let any survivors to report. But he wouldn't bet his Sharingan that the old man had nothing to do with that. He was glad to have forced the Sandaime to put his seal on the file. The real information – except for his name – were written there, be it his capacity or his face. But with the seal, if someone other than the Hokage touched the file, the content would rewrite itself, leaving only the bare minimum data on him.

Sen called back his two summons to the room. "You two saw no one from Root leaving or entering this past few weeks?"

"Nothing on my side," Yuna chirped with a foxy grin.

"Wait wait wait! You only talked about leaving." Kai stood on his rear legs and pointed a paw to Sen's direction. "You never said anything about entering the village!"

Sen groaned slapped his mask with a hand. "Kai," Yuna said in a deadpan voice. "You should read between the line."

"It's not my fault if he didn't give me proper order!" the orang fox huffed as he sat back down while his tail repeatedly hit the flood in frustration. The small white fox hit her kin on the head in rebuke.

"What did you see then, Kai?" Sen asked in resignation.

"The day you came back from your last mission, a Root Anbu entered the village a few hours later."

"I'm positive I took care of all of them, but it can't be a coincidence."

"It's not a proof, still." The Hokage shook his head. "And they gained nothing but the barest information."

"Yes, and that's suspicious enough for him to keep an eye on me now." Sen removed his glove to bit his thumb and slammed his hand on the ground. A dark orange fox with sharp green eyes and a blue scarf appeared. "Ko, I want you to keep an eye on Root's base. Try to collect any information and see if they are sent somewhere out of the village. You two will go back to your position."

"Noooooooo!" Yuna threw herself down at Sen's feet, rolling and waving her tiny paws in the air like a toddler throwing a tantrum. "It's boring! I don't want to go there. Make Ko switch place with me!"

Sen took a deep breath to calm himself. Vixens and their moods. "Alright. Ko, you will go to the entrance and keep an eye on the Northern position on the wood and keep an eye for any Root shinobis leaving OR entering the village while your brother will return to his previous position on South. Yuna, you will be on watch to the base and glean any information you can. Is everybody alright with their assignment?"

The three foxes agreed and left the tower by the windows. Sen turned back to the Hokage. "Is that all?"

"One more thing." The Sandaime took his pipe and exhaled out a large cloud of smoke. "I have requested a meeting with the council to officially change a particular shinobi law you wanted."

Sen was pleasantly surprised. "That's great news, I thank you for your consideration," he bowed lowly.

"Don't thank me right now. It still had to be approved by the majority." The old man waved a hand.

"Still, it's the intention that count. It's by making small steps that we can change this place to a better one."

~~~~~~~

Omake (from beta-reader)

Minato sat down to read a book but when he opened it... a loud bang happened and confitie came raining down on him. 

“Very funny Kushina“

Kushina walked out of the kitchen and laughed, “It was not me, but I could kiss whoever it was.” She was holding her sides. “your face is so awesome looking”

Minato got up and looked in a mirror at his orange face.... and let out a grown....


	8. Chapter 8

Danzo was a little surprised by the report of his Root Anbu. "What do you mean by nothing?"

The man that was kneeling before him lowered his head. "It is as I say. The picture on the file was of his mask. No chakra affinity, no rank, no specific techniques known, no address. There was only his code name, his age, the Anbu's dormitory as the location to send his paychecks and his blood type."

That… was odd. Not even he had so little information on the members of his organization and Danzo wasn't about to deny that he can be paranoid about what he kept on written documents. "And what is his code name then?"

"Sen"

"Tell the others to keep an eye on him and report anything they could learn about this man. I find it really suspicious that so little is known by the Hokage, so he must deliberately be hiding information on him."

Danzo was recalculating his plans. By now, two of his major ones had failed. There must be something going on. Either they had a mole or someone was actively keeping tabs on them. He looked down at the picture his agent had taken of the Anbu's file. Sen; the line on his mask was clearly a given for his name code. He couldn't help but wonder if this mysterious Anbu had any link to the chain of failures they recently had.

:----------------------------------------------:

Sen was shopping for some candies in a male Henge when he felt a small hand grab his. He looked down and found a little girl with black hair combed in two piggy tails wearing a white kimono with pale blue flowers and a pink obi. The little girl smiled at him and when her eyes switched colors form green to a vibrant yellow with slit pupils, he immediately knew who that was.

"Yuna" he said as he walked into the shop, still holding the hand of a seemingly 4 years old girl.

"Hello, Nameless master. I have news for you." She waited until he gave a short nod to continue. "I heard Root talking about keeping eye on an Anbu wearing a peculiar mask with only a line and an ear out for anything related to a Sen."

Sen grimaced as he took a small bag of soft caramels. "So they do have taken notice of me." As the two went to the cashier, Sen took a lollipop on the counter to add on his purchase before leaving the shop. "Keep the good work. Don't hesitate to report if you get even the smallest information."

"You didn't compliment me on my look" Yuna twirled on herself to show him his full appearance.

Sen smiled at that. "I would have thought that you would choose a more mature form."

"And get every head turned once they saw the beauty I am? That wouldn't be very discreet."

"Here, for your hard work." Sen handed the disguised fox a lollipop. She took it with a smile before waving him goodbye and running away.

Sen berated himself as he walked in the direction of the Uchiha's district. So he did miss one on his last mission. He would have to be extra careful when he was in public to palliate his mistake.

Once in the forest, Sen dropped the Henge, he jumped from the trees to the training ground Itachi usually used. He was a bit surprised when he felt only one presence there.

"No Shisui here today?" he asked once he was close enough to the training boy.

Itachi's shoulders sagged as he turned to face him. "No. Father forbid him for the meantime to come with me."

"Why?" Sen couldn't help but ask with a tilt of his head. It wasn't common for the Uchihas to forbid children from the clan to see each other.

"I failed an exam. I only got 88/100. Father said it's because I don't study and train hard enough and punished me. He hasn't talked to me for two days, but mother said he will eventually get over it and not to mind him."

The older man felt a pang in his heart in sympathy. He squatted down and motioned for the kid to come closer. Once at arm reach, he pulled the Uchiha's heir in a hug. He was sad when he felt Itachi froze in the embrace. "88 was a good score. You have nothing to be ashamed about."

"But father was so angry and disappointed," Itachi said, still not returning the hug.

"It will happen. You can't be perfect, no matter how much your dad wants you to be. Nobody can. And it's alright to feel sad and cry when you are hurt or sad."

"A shinobi don't cry."

"Well, you aren't a shinobi yet, despite what others may think. You are still a child. And shinobis shouldn't cry during mission only, but can when they are at home. We are all humans after all. Even I have cried a lot and I'm an Anbu. So cry if you want, it will make you feel better afterward. I will make sure no one see you."

He felt the small body slowly tremble in his arms and small hands gripping tightly at the back of his shirt. Sen rubbed his back and his soft hair in a soothing motion. He slightly tightened his hold when he distinctively heard a hiccup. 

"You are so strong, Itachi. Don't let what your father said get in your head and talk to your mother about how you feel. You can't keep it all bottled up. It's not healthy. Mikoto is kind and I'm sure she will talk to Fugaku. Your father is a rough and stubborn man that won't see he is in the wrong unless someone tells him; but I'm sure even he won't dare go against what Mikoto says. She can be terrifying, even if she is a housewife now."

Itachi laughed in Sen's neck and pulled away with a smile. "She is. You really think I should tell her? That she will tell father to be less demanding?"

"Definitely." Sen nodded sharply. "Your mom will defend you with the fierceness of a lioness." He then took out the small bag of caramels. "Here, for you. It will cheer you on. Now, how about we train together on some Suiton technics? It's always good to diversify your repertory of technics."

Itachi rubbed his tears away and nodded.

:-------------------------------------------------:

Sen decided to visit the Hatake's household. He had some time to spare and it had been more than ten days since he visited Obito. He was hitting a wall in his progress with the new seal he was working on and he needed to give his mind a break. He appeared on the living room with his usual "Hello" but was surprised to see Minato sitting on the sofa, reading a book.

"Uncle!" Obito cheered at the sight of the older man.

"You are late." Kakashi grumbled on his spot, sharpening his kunai.

"Sen?" Minato dropped his book in surprise.

"Namikaze," Sen said curtly while patting the back of the young Uchiha. "What are you doing here?"

"Well… I should be the one asking you that," the blond countered.

"Uncle always comes to visit me," Obito told the blond.

"And dad is out on a mission and won't be back until tomorrow, so he asked Minato to keep an eye on us. You would know that if you visited regularly." Kakashi added haughtily.

"Nobody likes a smart-mouthed kid, Kakashi. But I'm touched that you missed me."

"I don't!" Kakashi shouted before grumbling and returning to his kunai sharpening.

"Well, I think I will come back another day, then,"

Sen was about to leave but Obito latched on his leg. "Don't go! I… I need help with my homework!"

"I thought you already finished your homework, Obito," the blond quirked an eyebrow.

"The one for tomorrow, yes but… not the one for Wednesday. And Uncle always explains better!" Obito then ran to his room to fetch his notebook.

"Uncle, huh?" Minato mussed but was ignored by the masked man, as this one sat on a chair at the table to wait for Obito. Minato observed the two working on Obito's assignment. It was a moment later that he tried to catch the attention of the other adult in the room. "Can I talk to you?"

"Don't bother us while we are working." Sen didn't bother to look up from the notebook.

"I just want to apologize-"

"Apologize accepted. Now Obito, you have to calculate the trajectory of the shuriken while keeping in mind the wind and the distance of the target…"

Minato sighed dejectedly and returned to his silent observation. Why was the Anbu here? Apparently, it wasn't his first visit and Obito even called him Uncle. Was the man a Uchiha? But it couldn't be possible, with the white hair and the Rinnegan. The kids seemed very familiar with him though. Was he a relative of the Hatake then? Minato was lost in his thought long enough to not notice the man standing up and giving his farewell to the two kids. "Ah! Wait!" But it was too late. The man had already left the house. He turned his attention then to Kakashi, the one he was more familiar with. "So, this Sen come here often?"

"Yeah. He was the one who dropped Obito here. He usually comes weekly and stay to eat with us."

The blond hummed pensively. "So you guys know who he really is under the mask?"

Kakashi was about to open his mouth when Obito interrupted. "Don't tell him about Uncle! He is a stranger."

"He isn't a stranger," Kakashi pointed out. "I know Minato since I was a toddler and he is a good friend of dad. Dad asked him to babysit us, right?"

Obito frowned. "Still… Uncle wouldn't like it."

Minato gave a reassuring smile to the reluctant boy. "I have already met Sen on multiple times. He often comes to visit Kushina's library to learn about seals, you know?"

Obito mussed before shaking his head. "I still won't tell you anything." He took his notebook and left to his room.

Sighing, the blond turned to the remaining child. "And you Kakashi? Won't you tell me?"

The silver-haired boy looked up and shrugged. "I don't know much myself. He never takes off his mask and often teases me. He is a lot closer to Obito, actually. I think he hid his face because he had scars, but dad and Obito said it wasn't that bad. Dad seems to like him."

"So Sakumo knows what he looks like?"

Obito then rushed in the room and threw his google to Kakashi's head.

"Ouch! That hurt!"

"Then stop telling him things! A shinobi should know how to keep secrets. And you!" he turned to point a finger to Minato. "Being nosy is a bad thing! Sakumo said so!"

Minato laughed and apologized. He then turned on the TV to placate the angered boy. He will try to see later if Sakumo could tell him more about Sen.

:------------------------------------------------:

Sakumo had come back in the village and waited at the missions' desk to give back the scroll and get his pay. He felt still uncomfortable when he heard the other shinobis present, glare and mutter behind his back. He flinched when someone dumped his shoulder and muttered 'traitor' loud enough for him to hear. He was looking at his feet when he heard someone call his name.

"Sakumo~!" Said man turned around and was surprised when a voluptuous blonde woman rushed to his direction while enthusiastic waving at him. "Honey! I missed you so much!" The woman jumped in his arms and kissed his cheek. "The kids told me you had gone on a mission and would be back today."

Sakumo held the blonde woman with surprise before the information ticked in his head and he looked at the mole under her right ear. "S-" But he was stopped to pronounce the name a manicured finger pressed on his lips.

"Why are they so slow? I want to celebrate your return to active duty with you!" she held Sakumo's arm, making her ample breast squeeze in a provoking manner from her v-cut shirt as she bent down a little to put on display the round bottom in her shorts. "Could you hurry up, please? She pouted at the person sitting at the registry.

The man looked at her – or more precisely at her chest – with a hanging mouth before blushing and stammering while giving Sakumo's paycheck. "Thank you, sweetheart!" she winked at the man before leaving the building at Sakumo's arm, making all the men present turn their head to watch the couple depart.

"Sen?" Sakumo whispered. "What are you doing and why this appearance?"

Sen chuckled as he continued to cling to Sakumo's arm. "I came to greet you. And make everyone jealous of you. If they are going to badmouth you, at least give them a good reason too."

Sakumo face-palmed at the reply. It was a touching attempt but… he would have preferred the other to abstain himself. "So, did you want to talk with me about something?"

"Yes, but I wanted to congratulate you for your first successful mission since your leave. Let's go drink something to celebrate! It will be on you!"

Sakumo chuckled. Sen was a real actor to go with the character he impersonated. "Alright."

They went to a small teahouse to a private booth – since all the heads turned in their direction – and ordered their drink. Sen even received another drink, paid by an older costumer not far away. He smiled and waved at him before turning back his attention to Sakumo while sipping his drink. "So, how did your mission go?"

"It went actually pretty smoothly. It was just a B mission transporting for a client something valuable to a nearby village."

"That's good," Sen crossed his legs elegantly under the table. "I came to visit yesterday and was surprised to see Namikaze there instead of you."

"You know Minato?" Sakumo inquired.

"Yeah. Met him when visiting Kushina to study the books in her library about seals. That guy is really nosy."

The silver-haired man smiled as he drank his sake. "A trait very common with genius. He can help but try to unravel a mystery when he sees one."

"Yeah. And I hate when people try make me spill my secrets. At least Kushina had the decency to not pry too much."

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Oh, I learned some good news and I wanted you to be the first to know," Sen pushed his long mane of hair over his shoulder and Sakumo couldn't help his eyes to travel down, making Sen smile and squeeze his arm to make his chest about to burst out of his shirt. Sakumo coughed and looked away, a faint blush on his face. "But I see you like me like this."

"It's hard not to look. But I still prefer your real appearance." Sakumo looked down at his drink, missing Sen's choked expression. "So…"

"Ah. Yes. The good news." Sen recovered. "The council approved the Hokage's proposition to officially change one of the shinobi's law. You know, the law about the success of a mission always coming first, even at the cost of a shinobi's life? Now it will only apply to specific vital missions for the village. The Hokage wants to make sure people don't waste their life for nothing. Isn't that great?"

Sakumo blinked in surprise, not knowing what to say, a wave of relief and happiness filling him. He started to laugh and laugh before tears appeared in his eyes. Sen the moved from his seat to sit next to him and hold him in his arms as the man sobbed.

"Th-then.. what I…" the man tried to say and felt Sen nod while long nails scratched his hair soothingly.

"Yes. What you did helped change this law and save lives in the future. You have nothing to be ashamed of in the future."

Sakumo stayed like that, as he let all the emotions flew out of him. It was only when he had calmed down enough that he realized that he had his face pressed in Sen's ample breasts. "Ah! Sorry!" he quickly pulled away.

"Oh, don't worry. They aren't actually mine. You can even fondle them if it makes you happy," Sen demonstrated while squeezing his own chest.

Sakumo's eyes bulged out of his head and quickly batted the hands away. "Don't do that! It's inappropriate!" Sakumo looked around while Sen laughed in a high-pitched voice and saw a man nearby holding his nose as he quickly walked in the direction of the toilets. "You are unbearable."

"I see you smiling~" Sen singsonged as he took back his place in front of the Hatake. 

Sakumo whipped the last tears away and smiled at Sen. "Yes. Thank you for announcing me the great news."

The two then drank comradely and talked about the kids. Sakumo was pretty sure Sen had something to do about the law's change but didn't call him on it. The other would deny it anyway. It was then that he felt the first throb in his heart for the man disguised now as a woman talking about Itachi.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Omake. 

~At school~

Random kid #1 “So.... Kakashi I heard your dad was seen with a gorgeous lady last night, is it true that your getting a mom?”  
Kakashi spews water everywhere.... “wha...what?” He sputters out  
Rk#1 “Yeah my dad was talking to my uncle about how beautiful she was.”  
“Shut up” Kakashi shouted he gave Obito wide eyes....  
“we’ll get to the bottom of this.” Obito says while patting Kakashi on the back.  
Obito looks at Rin and Gai both give the thumps up.  
they would get to the bottom of this.  
`````` TbC in Not all lines are straight``````````


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To whoever is still reading despite the late updates: THANK YOU!  
> Hope you like it. And there is a new character making an appearance!

Sen was sitting in Kushina's library, talking with the woman to see if his seal was now flawless. Kushina was studying the drawing on the paper with a serious expression for a while before looking up at him.

"Is this what I think it is?" she asked in an uncharacteristic serious voice.

Sen nodded, having no reason to lie to her. "It is."

Her mouth twitched as she looked back at the paper. "And I suppose no one commissioned you for it."

"It is on my own volition that I came up with this idea. I will propose it to them once I'm sure it's foolproof and I have found a way to remove the current cursed seal. This option is better than the inhuman one they use."

Kushina crossed her arms and swayed from left to right making strange grimace. "I'm torn between being proud and angry with myself for not having thought about it before. But why are you doing this?"

"Must one have a reason other than wanting to correct a wrongdoing when they see one? I'm appalled that no one sees anything wrong with children having seals put on them that can kill them on command, by members of their own family. How can anyone want to risk their life for people who approve that kind thing?"

Sadness was now clearly visible on Kushina's face. "It is a barbaric practice, but the clans have always done as they pleased since as long as the village existed."

"And we are now out of the Warring State era. Times change and with it, old customs should evolve too. We are living in modern times where we are more civilized and educated and should act as such. "

Kushina smiled at him. "You are a kind man, Sen."

Sen looked away. "I wouldn't define myself as such. I have more blood in my hands than you could ever imagine and a list of sins I could never dream to atone for in one whole life. I'm just a practical person that sees no use in wasting peoples lives, when they could be saved."

"Yet, here you are, trying to reinvent a seal to help people from a clan that you have no affiliation with, gaining nothing in return."

"Well," Sen looked away. "I wouldn't mind discreetly getting rid of some Elders who wouldn't approve on this."

Kushina laughed good naturedly. "See! A good man! Now let's see if we can find a safe way to remove the cursed seal. It would be all for naught if we can't do this part."

Sen smiled behind his mask and nodded. "Yes. Let's do."

Minato came to the Uzumaki's compound later that evening. He was surprised when Kushina didn't come to greet him when he entered the front door. He inspected the house and found his girlfriend sitting on the ground debating with Sen about a seal drawn on a paper.

"Hello?" Minato said but was barely acknowledged.

"Yes, yes. Hello." Waved at him Kushina without looking up from the paper on the ground. "Now stay quiet."

Minato was stunned by the way the red-haired addressed him and slowly walked into the room to see what they were working on.

Kushina was elaborating safe parts of the seal to be erased and pointing out the one that would be problematic while Sen gave her proposition of other approaches. Minato's eyes widened once he saw the seal they were working on.

"Is that the Hyuga's Branch seal?"

"Oh! Hey Minato! Didn't hear you come in. Can you believe that? Sen invented a new seal to deactivate a Byakugan without killing its host. It's just genius' work to make the seal do that will rewrite the DNA centered only on the eyes so they won't keep their unique ability without decreasing the sight! And the activation part! Anyone can easily trigger the seal if they are in a situation that would put them at risk of getting their eyes stolen but they will still keep their ability as shinobi except for not having a kekkei genkai. And he did that all while learning Fuinjutsu!"

"Sen," Minato approached the man that didn't look at him. "I wanted to properly apologize about what I said last time. You were right. Just because it doesn't concern us doesn't mean we can't try to find a way to change things for the better. I reflected on your words and… how can I claim wanting to be a Hokage if I turn a blind eye on the suffering of people? It's just… I'm sorry."

Sen looked up and nodded after a moment. "I already accepted your apology, but appreciate you reiterating them. Everybody only bothers when they are affected personally and I wish to change that mentality. We are more than just clans, Dojutsu or hereditary abilities. We are a village. A big family. And as such, we should try to help each other. I'm selfishly trying to make this village a place that I would be proud to live in."

"You sure you don't want to postulate for the Hokage's place? 'Cause you sure sound like a leader. But don't expect me to easily give up! It will only be one more rival for me! I will be the next Hokage!" Kushina proclaimed.

Sen chuckled and shook his head. "Nah. That was the dream of a little boy that died long ago. I thrive in the shadow; destroy organization, assassinate tyrants, help revolutions, but never meant to be in the light, praised or admired by others. I lost that right long ago."

There was a heavy silence when Sen pondered if he had said too much. He tended to let his guard down too often those times, especially with people he owed for what he did in his timeline.

"That's… very dark." Kushina eventually said.

"I don't mind." Sen shrugged then looked at Minato. "But if you want, your help would be appreciated. I want to find a way to completely remove the seal, not just inactivating it. But the task seems harder than I can manage by myself. Your input could be useful."

"Gladly," Minato smiled and sat down. The three then started to debate on a best ways to approach the cursed sea together.

:-----------------------------------------------------------:

It took two weeks of daily visits – from sunset to the early hours of the morning sometimes – for the three of them to find the perfect and flawless way to completely remove the cursed seal. Minato's eyes were dropping closed from his spot on the stool against the wall and Kushina had dark bags very visible under her eyes.

"I think we have everything in order," Kushina nodded and yawned. "Now we just have to test it on someone so we can tell it is tested and approved."

Sen tapped the porcelain under his left eye will thinking. On who could they test it? No sane shinobi from a clan would willingly get rid of a Dojutsu without valid reason. His first option that came to mind was the Land of Water, but he remembered that the war hadn’t happened, so people there didn't discriminate against kekkei genkai’s users. He stopped tapping his mask to let his finger run slowly at the opening for hi eye. There was still his Rinnegan. He couldn't afford to lose his Sharingan now, but the Rinnegan was only strategically useful to keep Zetsu o-.

"I have an idea." Sen put back all the papers in his folder before bowing to Kushina and Minato. "Thank you for your precious help. I will keep you up to date." Kushina gave him a tired smile while Minato was already fast asleep. He looked at the clock and saw it was around five in the morning. A bit early, but he was sure he would still be awake. He body flickered to the forest before activating his Mangekyu and using Kamui. Once in his dimension, he fetched a black cloak he kept there, switched his mask with the orange one and left Kamui. Once at his destined location, he wasn't surprised to find himself with a kunai resting on his throat.

"I know we said you will always be welcome, but I would have appreciated if you could visit at appropriate hours." The voice behind him said with a huff as they removed the weapon from his neck.

"But you are already awake, Nagato." Sen turned around and saw Nagato looking at him with fond exasperation.

"I have to be up early to prepare everything for our new leader. So, to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit here today?"

"Always straight to the point, I see. I wanted to see my favorite rebels-trio. But I have something specific for you. I have found a way to safely remove your Rinnegan." Sen then took his time to explain in details the seal he had invented with the help of two masters in Fuinjutsu without giving away any names. He showed him the design, told him about the specific and tried to tell him how it would ease his life. "It won't alter your use of chakra and you will keep your eyesight, give you back normal eyes actually."

Nagato stayed silent for a moment as he pondered what the other told him. "Jiraya told me it was the same eyes of the Sage of Six Paths. Why would I want to get rid of them?"

"Nagato," Sen said slowly, aware of the graveness of what he was about to reveal. "Those eyes… aren't actually yours. I learned that someone had implanted them on you when you were a mere toddler. They are powerful indeed, but don't you think that, once people outside Ame hear that someone had the most powerful Dojutsu, they will try to get them? That's without taking in consideration the person I'm trying to stop that will definitely try to get them at any price. They will try everything to get them, I can assure you. Even going as far as to harm Yahiko and Konan or the whole village."

Shock was clearly visible in Nagato's face. "Who?" he asked, but when he got no answer, his shock turned into anger. "You always keep secrets. I didn't care at first, but now it concerns me and my friends' lives! I need you to tell me who it is or I won't consider you offer."

Sen's shoulders sagged as he sat on a nearby stool. "That entity is a being as old as the Sage of Six Paths. It is a shadow that lurk in this world to destroy it and it needs the Rinnegan to annihilate all five nations."

"That… can't be possible." Nagato said as he dropped on his bed.

"It is; as crazy as it sounds. I'm aware that most people won't believe it so I keep this information mostly to myself. If I hadn't actually met it, I know I would have a hard time believing it too."

"Then why are you keeping your Rinnegan?" The red-head frowned.

"To lure it to me. I have nothing, so it will have to come directly for me if it wants it. But you, Nagato, have so much to lose. I would hate to see it drive you into despair by killing everyone you held dear. I'm not actually forcing you. This is merely an offer I want to give you. If you refuse, I will still try my best to protect you, Konan and Yahiko from it, though I can't assure your protection if other shinobis come for your eyes. If you removed the Rinnegan, you will have nothing to fear about this calamity as its only concern is to get them." Sen then stood up. "You don't have to give me an answer right now. Talk to your friends if you want. I will come back tomorrow at noon to see if you have made a decision."

Sen then left the room to give Nagato time to reflect on his offer. It was true that he would accept the teen's choice, but he knew that if Nagato refused, it would make his work harder in the future. Since he had some time to kill, he will go to Kiri and see what information he could get of the current village.

:-----------------------------------------:

Well, Kiri was as gloomy as he remembered. Currently disguised as an old lady, Sen walked around and listened on what people were talking around in the meantime. It was a shame to learn that the ritual of students from the academy killing each other to graduate had been in place even before the third war, but there was nothing he could do about it. he knew tradition died hard, but he couldn't stop himself from feeling sympathy for a woman crying for her dead son, killed during the promotion. He wondered how people kept wanting to be shinobis with this. He used Kamui to go to the Mizukage's building and listened for intel there. The third Mizukage was an emotionless man that was running his village with an iron hand, but as far as he could tell, the politic was going well. They had frequent mission's requests and no major problem running for now. He was listening in the shadows the shinobis talking around when suddenly a massive sword came crashing to the wall behind him. He was happy to have kept his Mangekyo activated to keep his presence hidden with Kami as the sword that should have cut him in two only passed through his incorporeal body. As people were shooting around in surprise, Sen only saw a glimpse of blue skin before he ran out of the building. He body flickered to the nearby forest and thought for a moment that he had managed to escape when he felt a presence just behind him.

"Well, looks like the rat is leaving the boat. Wanna tell me what you were doing, spying on us?"

Sen turned and a smile twitched behind the security of his mask as he saw the familiar face of the man he had trusted for decades. Kisame looked younger and even cockier than ever.

"What an honor to meet one of the famous Seven Swordsmen of the Mist." Sen bowed. He jumped away when Kisame attacked him with Samehada.

"You still haven't answered my question, buddy," Kisame grinned as he pulled his sword up from the crater it had created.

"Ah, just looking around, see if I would like to buy a house here in the future. But I wasn't expecting to see a celebrity or I would have taken a pen for an autograph."

Kisame laughed. "You are a funny guy! A shame we will have to kill you."

Sen kept his body incorporeal when he felt an attack coming from behind. He stayed immobile as a large sword and then a man went through him.

"What the!" the man said as he crashed on the ground.

"Hmm… I don't think I know who you are." The masked man watched the new comer. It was a man with the lower half of his face hidden behind a bandages.

"How could you miss him, kid!" Kisame shouted. "He was right before you with his guard down!"

"My sword went through him!" Zabuza shouted back as he stood next to Kisame with his sword raised.

"Oh, another famous swordsman. I'm quite lucky."

Kisame grinned with his mouth full of sharp teeth. It would have been intimidating for anyone else, but Sen only could summon fond memories from the man with shark-like teeth. "Well, you will soon see why they call me 'The Monster of the Hidden Mist'!"

Sen jumped and evaded attacks from his two assailants. He used trees to hid and hinder the massive swords.

He shook his head as he sat on a branch above them nonchalantly. "I don't see any monster here." He jumped when Zabuza cut down the branch he was using.

"Then your eye must be rotten, buddy." Kisame said as he continued to attack. He was frowning by now. No matter what he tried, his blade never hit its target. It was even strange that Samehada didn't even grasp a bit of chakra from the man. Who was this guy?

"Nah, I only need one eye to see well and all I see before me are powerful shinobis."

Kisame froze for a moment before getting back on his game. It was the first time that someone outside of the village didn't call him a monster. Hell, even the people of his own village saw him as an anomaly with his gills, blue skin and small shark-like eyes. "What village are you from? Who are you?" Kisame growled as he stopped his attack, keeping the man between himself and Zabuza.

"I'm from no village actually. I'm just a wanderer who try’s to see how the five nations are doing. You are a brave man, Kisame Hoshigaki. A shame there isn't more men as righteous and loyal as you around the world. But I have to say I don't really like your surname."

"Who are you?!" Kisame ordered again.

"I'm a nameless man, but people came to call me Sen. But it seems I will have to cut short our chat. I hope this world won't crook and stain your soul as it did mine. I wish we will meet in better circumstances next time, Kisame 'The Tailless Biju' "

Both Kisame and Zabuza were surprised as the man disappeared in a strange vortex and none of them could sense his chakra. When others shinobis joined them, they reported want had happened. The man had no headband and claimed to be of no village. All their attacks had gone through him, like he was a ghost and he never attacked back. As they confirmed that not a trace of his chakra could be detected – a strange thing that the best sensors present said to be impossible – they all left back to the village to signal the event to the Mizukage so they could reinforce the security.

"Heh," Kisame laughed, making Zabuza raise an eyebrow. "He had at least good taste. From now on, I will call myself Kisame The Tailless Biju!"

Zabuza shook his head at his comrade's antics. Kisame was an oddball.

:-------------------------------------------:

Sen returned the following day at noon as promised to Ame and appeared in Yahiko's office, not surprised to see the trio already there, waiting for him.

"So," he said as he rested a hand on his hip, taking a relaxed stance.

"If I didn't know you…" Yahiko started slowly, "I would say you are crazy."

"I know," Sen only nodded before looking at Nagato. "Did you make up your mind?"

"I want to see this seal first." Konan stepped forward.

"Of course," Sen then draw on a paper the seal he had by now memorized, explaining each part while doing so. "I want you to know that I only do this for Nagato’s sake. On my honor as a man, I would never propose this if I didn't think it would benefice him."

They then all turned to look at the red-head teen. After a moment, this one closed his eyes and nodded. "Alright. Let's do this."

Sen didn't let appear the relief he felt. "If we are doing this, I want it to be monitored. I'm positive that everything will turn right, but I want to be sure we have everything good. We will take sample of Nagato's blood from his eyes before and after the seal have been activated to check the DNA had been properly altered."

They reserved a room in the hospital once blood sample of Nagato's eyes had been taken. Monitors hand been attached to his head as he laid on a bed. Sen took a brush and painted the seal on his forearm, not having to put it permanently.

"Now, you remember the sequence I told you to activate the seal?" he asked and Nagato confirmed with a nod. "Then it's up to you to activate it. Don't worry, I have checked a hundred of times each line of this seal. Everything will be ok. You won't turn blind."

Nagato looked at each of the three persons present in the room a last time before nodding and resting a trembling finger on the center of the seal. He pulsed his chakra in the seal and winced once it was activated. He let out a startled cry and pushed the ball of his hands against his eyes as the heart monitor started to beep frantically.

"Nagato!" Yahiko ran to his side and held him by the shoulders.

"I-it stings!" the teen hissed between his teeth.

"Sen! What's going on?!" Yahiko shouted to the calm man standing at the end of the bed.

"The DNA is rewriting itself. Just give it time. When you feel no more pain, try to slowly open your eyes." Nagato groaned but nodded.

It took three long minutes until Nagato was panting and put down his hands. He kept a will longer his eyes closed before his face was completely relaxed.

"I-I'm scared," he whispered. Konan went then to hold his hand and he squeezed it in comfort.

"Have faith. Try to open your eyes." The woman told him.

Nagato opened his eyes in a slit before closing them again. Each time he blinked, he managed to open them a bit wider. When they were wide open, the red-head looked all around the room with now normal blue eyes. "I… I can see."

"That's good," Yahiko sighed as he rubbed his friend's back.

"No, I… I see different than before. More… colorful."

Sen nodded. "Yes. Your perception with the Rinnegan was different that how people see the words. Your eyes were most focused on chakra, which made them apt to see its color only. Now you see the world like everyone else."

Nagato stayed a long moment watching Yahiko's head. "Your hair… is very bright!"

Yahiko laughed full-belly at the surprised statement while Konan chuckled. Nagato was fascinated by everything he saw. While everything before had been a bluish shad of chakra color, no he realized how little he knew about the real color of things. They made him then pass various tests to see how his chakra functioned. Everything was positive as Nagato had no problem performing Ninjutsu and Genjutsu. The blood sample they then took confirmed that everything was alright.

"It's strange to see you now with regular eyes," said Yahiko as the nurse took off the electrodes all around his head and body. "The others were creepy, but I got used to them by now."

"I like their color," Konan said, which made Nagato blush as he stuttered a thanks.

"Well," said Sen. "I will take with me all the data collected here. I don't want anyone having access to them." Sen took everything and stored it in the tattooed seal on his arm.

Nagato bowed lowly to his benefactor. "Thank you so much. You have already helped us so much in the past and now this… I can't express how grateful I feel right now."

"There is no need. I created this seal to help people and I'm happy that you were the first I could help. All you can do to thank me is to savor your life at its fullest and be safe." Sen cast one last look at the three joyful teens before he disappeared with a wave of his hand.

He reappeared to Kushina's household after changing his clothes back to Anbu, making her give a startled cry at the sudden appearance.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" She said with a hand over her heart.

"The seal is a success."

Kuchina blinked. "You have already tried it on someone? Who was it? How did it go?" Kuchina excitedly ran to Sen until they were an inch apart.

Sen bent backward to put some space between them. "It was a young man who had a kekkei genkai transplanted when he was a kid without him knowing. I have all the data collected before, during and after the process. I have even taken pictures before and after and have taken note about what he experienced and felt too."

"That's wonderful! Now you can present your new seal to the clan head and request a meeting with the clan! Let's celebrate this with some ramen! And maybe you can show me your face, for celebration's sake!" It took Kushina a few minutes to realize she was alone in the kitchen and went back to the hallway where the other hadn't moved from. "What's wrong? You know, I was joking… about showing your face."

"I want you and Minato to be the ones to present it to the Hyuga."

"Oh, we don't mind coming with you for support. I know the more we are, the better it will go."

The masked man shook his head. "No. I want you two to present it as your creation. It is better if we present it as the invention of two well-known shinobis from Konoha than some unknown Anbu. Minato has a charismatic presence while the Uzumakis are well known for their skill in Fuinjutsu. I want Minato to explain the positive change it could do and you to describe the effect of the seal. I will only be present to state how the first try had unfolded."

Kushina gapped. "But… You were the one who come up with that idea and made the major part of the seal! We only helped with the tweaks and in safely deconstructing the cursed seal."

"It's irrelevant. What's important is that the clan will be more open to accept a proposition of two well-known member of the village who both want to become Hokage. It doesn't matter if it is a creation of mine or Hashirama Senju or even the Sage of six paths if they accept it in the end. Do you get what I mean?"

Kushina's face made impressive acrobatics as it switched through a quantity of various expression. It was with a sigh that she nodded in resignation. "Alright. I will tell Minato and we will tell you when we get a meeting with their clan." When Sen left, Kushina wondered how she would contact him. She put that aside for now, she will have to talk to Minato about it first and get him to talk to the Hyuga's clan head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who was expecting to see Kisame? 'Cause I didn't see it coming and I'm starting the rewrite the whole story in my mind to add some apparitions of him in this story. Why make simple when you can have Kisame? And I liked Kisame as soon as Iearned his past... 
> 
> I hate myself... but it's worth it.
> 
> Anyway, thank you for the comments and kudos. Keeping giving them! I really appreaciate them and it make me happy (but even with none I will keep going with this story, so don't worry)


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakumo finally making a move on Sen. A small one, but one none the less!!

Sen made sure to take only few and short missions on the following weeks. He trained mostly and spared with his fellows Anbus. He had been pleased to see Itachi with Shisui again. The little heir had a little smile on his lips when he told him he had talked with his mother and that this one had a long and very loud discussion with his father, which ended with an uncomfortable Fugaki apologizing – in his own way – to his son. Shisui had laughed and rolled on the ground at hearing this while Sen patted Itachi's head while advising them to never get on her bad side.

Sen was reading a book about politic of the other nations with Wolf, Tiger and Hawk playing cards nearby when someone knocked at the door. It was Tiger – who made sure the two others won't cheat while he was gone – that opened the door and let the person enter.

"Uh, Sen? You have a visitor."

The attention of all the persons present focused on the door, Wolf freezing while looking at Tiger's cards. Sakumo entered in the room looking around with a smile at the other Anbus while he walked to a now sitting Sen.

"What are you doing here?" Sen asked in surprise at the unexpected visit of the silver-haired man. It was the first time Sakumo came here at the Anbus' quarter to visit him.

"Sorry for disturbing you, but I didn't know where else to find you or when you will come back…"

Sen looked at the three Anbus that feigned playing cards while listening at them. It was only after a long minute of silence that Hawk elbowed Tiger and this one proposed to go fetch something to drink at the vending machine.

"I don't see why I should leave," Wolf stubbornly retorted, not moving from his seat.

With a sigh, as the three now lowly argued, Sen waved at the Hatake to follow him outside. He closed the door behind him once in the corridor and waited for the other to tell him what it was about.

"Minato visited yesterday to see you, but since he had already missed you and I couldn't give him a date when you will come back, he gave me a message for you. He said he talked to the Hyuga's head clan about something you were aware and got a meeting with the clan's council."

"That was faster than I thought. Did he tell you when this meeting will be?"

Sakumo nodded. "Yeah. He told me to tell you that you while have to be present to the Hyuga's compound in three days at four in the afternoon and to bring back what you know."

Meanwhile, three heads had their ears glued to the door as they listened.

"I didn't know Sen knew Hatake. It's the first time I see him talking with someone other than us. And he said he already visited him! Do you think they are friends… or more?" Tiger asked Hawk who shrugged.

"Shut up! I'm trying to listen." Wolf whispered in an annoyed voice.

"You are the one with the best ears. What are they saying?" Hawk asked as he tried too to listened but couldn't distinguish the words. The Anbus' dormitory was well soundproofed.

"It is about the Namikaze brat and… a meeting with the Hyuga's council in three days?"

"WHAT?!" Hirota nearly screamed but had Tiger cover his mouth with a shush. " About what?"

"They don't say, but Namikaze already talked with the head clan- Shit! He is coming back!"

All three jumped back to the table and continued their game as if nothing while Sen entered back the room.

"Look at that!" Wolf said with a mean grin. "Even the taciturn runt can make friend it seems."

"Since when have you been friend with Hatake." Tiger jumped to stand before his masked friend. "And it sounded like you visited him frequently! Are you both dating? Why didn't you tell me anything? Has he seen your face? …Oh Kami! He has! We are friend since two years and you never showed me your face! That's unfair!"

"Tiger. Shut up." Sen grunted as he went to pick back his book.

"Make sense that an unsocial guy like you will go for a shunned man like him," Wolf haughtily snorted.

"The Hokage changed the shinobi's law so there is nothing wrong with what he did. On the contrary, even. But if even an unpleasant man like you can make friends, I don't see why I couldn't. He at least doesn't smell like a dog."

"What did you say?" Wolf growled and walked until he was standing right in front of the masked Anbu, baring his teeth. Sen was smaller than Wolf but didn't back off. The man was a bastard child from the Inuzuka's clan that wasn't recognized by his father. Although not acknowledged by the Inuzuka as one of them, he had the black hair he slicked back and the prominent fangs typical from members of the clan. Sen knew how to hit low when he wanted to.

"Don't fight in the dorm," Hirota instructed as he pushed the two away from each other. "Do it in the training ground if you want to."

"Tch! Like I want to waste my energy with a gloomy character like him." Wolf turned to sit back at the table to mix the cards.

"Tiger," Sen said to the auburn-haired man. "Are you still looking for someone to take your shift of Hokage's guarding for today and tomorrow?"

"You can?" the man asked with delighted eyes. "That would be awesome! I have a date this evening with this chick I met last week in a bar and, if everything goes well, I will still be in bed with her tomorrow morning. Man, you should have seen the rack she has and the shirt she was wearing left little to-"

"To much information, Tiger." Sen sighed. "Anyway, I will take your shift if it can help you. See you all. And stop cheating when you play, Hirota." Sen then jumped out of the windows with his book in hand.

Hirota was looking at the open windows when two hands grabbed him by the shoulders and he was spun to face two wide green eyes.

"He called you Hirota. He never called anyone by their name! Why doesn't he call me Shogo?! Tell me!" Tiger shook the Hyuga back and for with tears in his eyes.

"S-stop sh-shaking me!" Hirota managed to move away but was again cornered by his drama queen of a comrade. 

"Wait! Are you two dating? Is that why he calls you by your name and has a meeting with your clan?"

The Hyuga watched his friend as he had grown a second head. "We are not dating. Why are you so obsessed on him dating anyone? And I don't know why he has a meeting with the council. I just learned it at the same time as you two."

"Don't you find it strange that the creepy runt is going to talk with your council without you knowing? And with Namikaze, none the less. How did such a prodigy know a creeper like him?" Wolf said nonchalantly as he started to make a cards' tower.

"No wonder you two don't get along with your attitude, Kira," Shogo shook his head. "Sen is a good guy and out of mission you are always on his case with something mean and abrasive."

"We know nothing about him and I don't like it. It's suspicious." The taller man grunted.

"Well, try to be nice once in a while and you may learn something about him, Kira-kira." (AN: Kira-kira meant sparkling, glittering, from what I saw on internet) Shogo grinned and laughed when his teammate shouted to not call him that while banging the table, making him curse as he destroyed his cards' tower.

In the meantime, Hirota wondered what his masked friend wanted to talk with his clan's council.

:------------------------------------------:

"Alright," Sen said as he, Kuchina and Minato stood in front of the Hyuga's compound. "Everyone remember the story and their role in this?" Kuchina sighed dejectedly while Minato nodded with a smile. The meeting should go like this: While Minato was studying Fuinjutsu, he come up with a new idea of a seal for the Hyugas' to use. Since both he and Kuchina want to be Hokage and are well versed in the art of seals, they both worked hand in hand to help the clan. They created a new seal and found a way to remove the current fatal one. That part will be told by Minato, while Kuchina will later explain the mechanism of the seal and the process to remove the cursed seal. Then Sen will present the data on how the test done on a Rinnegan had gone will answering any question as he had been present during the process. If everyone kept on their role, the Hyugas should find no reason to refuse the new seal.

As they entered the room where the meeting would be held, they were all surprised to see the amount of people present there. It was clear that more people than the current council was present, both from the Main and Branch family. This put a little bit of pressure on Sen, since it was out of his calculation, but he was still positive the result should turn the same. Hiashi, the present head was sitting at the head of the table with his twin brother, Hizashi, a few seats from him.

"As you can see," the clan's head started as everyone took their place. "Your presentation had intrigued a lot of our clan members who have requested to be present during this meeting. You can start when you are ready."

Minato went on his part flawlessly. He was a born leader. His narration was perfect and various people nodded in approval on the part where he explained that it was their role, as people who want to be Hokage, to help the clans in Konoha. The first part of Kuchina's explanation went well. Her explanation of the mechanism of the seal and its activation was purely technical and easy to understand for people not versed in seals' mechanism. It was only when she started to explain the process of the removal of the current seal that everything went to hell.

"- and then we thought of only deactivate it but he… I mean we… we didn't want… to… AH! I can't do this! I can't! It wasn't our idea to recreate a seal for the Hyugas to use, but his!" she pointed at the masked Anbu standing on Minato's other side, making this one hiss her name. "Sen was the one that created the seal and asked to have access to my library to complete it. He did most of the part and I only helped to tweak some things in the end. He was the one that wanted to find a way to remove the current cursed seal so people won't have a reminder of it every time they look at the mirror! It was him, not us, alright?!" 

The whole room went silent for a whole minute after the outburst, the only sound coming from Kuchina's panting, Sen's groan and Minato face-palming. Sen cleared his throat and calmly continued on his part as if nothing; explaining the test that had been done on a teenager who had Rinnegan transplanted and the successful result with the data as proof that he handed to the clan's head.

"So…" one elder asked. "You are the one that came up with this new seal?"

Sen gave a short nod. It had all gone out to the windows, so he had no other solution than to come clean with it. "I did."

"What's your purpose?" Hiashi frowned. "You have no affiliation to the Hyuga's clan, so what are your intention in bringing us a new seal?"

Sen had known that it would turn like this, had the true identity of the seal's creator been revealed. Clans weren't trustful by nature and they would be even more suspicious to a man they knew nothing about. "I just wanted to help."

Strangely enough, it was Hizashi that talked next with disapproval in his gaze. "We don't need outsiders' help. Our clan had managed to take care of its problem since its creation. Why do you want us to change now?" 

People in the room where starting to whisper in approval but a loud bang rendered everyone silent. It was Sen who hit the table with his fist, making all the people present look at him with surprised expressions.

"Hyuga Hizashi. Are you so dumb to not realize that the child your wife is bearing while have the same mark as you? Is that what you want? To see your child bearing the same seal as yours?" Sen asked angrily as he tried to contain the aggressive chakra that threated to leak in killing intent. "All of you act as if you are all living in the Warring State era, where you had to fend for yourself. We are now all civilized and live all in the same village! Such practice is repulsing and you all act as if there is nothing wrong with it. We came here to help you and you all act as if we had spat at your face. I am part of this village as all of you; have or will go to mission with some of you. Is it so hard to understand that you can rely on others? If so, why are you part of Konoha? This seal could help countless lives in the future, deactivating the Byakugan instead of randomly killing your kind," Sen stabbed with a finger the drawing of the seal "and you will not even consider it because I'm the one who created it? Even with all the proof of its success I gathered? I'm shocked that your clan managed to exist until now."

Sen sat still and silent after his own outburst, ignoring both Kuchina and Minato that looked at him with wide eyes. He didn't often get angry and could understand their shock but won't acknowledge it. He was an Uchiha, and as all Uchihas, he tended to be passionate with his emotions when he let them appear.

"Ah, yes…" Hiashi then looked around the room. Is there anyone who had something to say or would like some further explanation?" when nobody talked, the clan's head went on. "Then if everybody understood the explanation, lets vote. For those who approve of the use of the proposed seal, raise your hand." Many hands were then raised and Hiashi nodded. "For those who disagree, raise your hand." It was then only two elders from the Main family who raised their hands. "Then, for the majority, we will approve on the use of the new seal to prevent people from stealing the Byakugan in the future."

"If I may," one kunoichi raised her hand. "You have presented us test on the application of the seal, but what about the removal of the cursed one we use right now? You haven't had the chance to test the technic on anyone, I deduce."

Sen grimace behind his mask. That had been the only flaw in his plan. "Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to use it, as I didn't want to act before the approval of the clan. But if anyone of you bearing this particular seal would agree to let me perform the removal, I would gladly demonstrate right now."

"How are we sure that it won't trigger the seal?" this time a younger man asked.

"I guaranty you that we had thoroughly studied it to make sure it will be safe. We wouldn't propose it if we weren't a hundred percent sure it will cause no harm."

"But that’s just in theory…" the same man supplied.

"Yes. So that's why I'm asking right now for a volunteer."

The room was filled with whispers but nobody volunteered. That was the part he had feared. He needed at least one person to accept so he could show the others that it was safe, otherwise it was meaningless. Sen had resigned himself to only have the new seal added to the whole Branch members will letting their cursed seal activated when someone rose his hand.

"I volunteer."

Sen's eyes widened as he recognized the face of the man now standing among the members of his family. 

"Hirota! That's dangerous!" Someone told him. "What if it kills you? You are an important member of this clan and shouldn't risk your life like this!"

"And yet here I am, a member of the Branch family with a cursed seal." Hirota then smiled at the masked Anbu. "And I trust Sen. If he says it's safe, then I believe him."

People made space to allow Hirota to sit next to the masked man. Sen was dumbstruck to see his Anbu friend present here. "Hirota…"

Said man grinned. "You didn't think I would miss your visit to my clan, did you? I'm ready." He then removed his headband to reveal the green seal.

Sen slowly nodded and removed his left glove, noticing the Hyuga Anbu watching his discolored skin, and put his five finger all around the seal. "I-" he cleared his throat. "I need you to stay still. It will take some time, but don't pull away even if you feel discomfort."

Hirota closed his eyes. "I trust you." He smiled when he felt Sen's fingers twitch at those words.

Sen then took all of his concentration to channeling his chakra where he wanted. He used the chakra from his Senju's cells since this one was softer and gentler than the one he had from his Uchiha's side; more prone to heal than harm. He took his time to slowly deconstruct the seal, part by part, taking notice of any frown or grimace his friend was making. It took three minutes that seemed like an eternity to Sen before the last trace of the chakra constituting the seal had fully disappeared. He then removed his hand and extended it in Minato's direction, waiting for the mirror the other had taken with him to be handed.

"You can open your eyes."

Hirota did so and was faced with his own reflection in the small mirror. His eyes automatically landed on the brandless skin of his forehead. He saw his trembling fingers trance the smooth skin and couldn't stop the laugh to bubble out of his mouth. "It… it's gone."

"It is," Sen nodded. "And now, if you want to be the first to get the new seal…" Sen stopped to see what the other choose. He would like for his friend to be the first to get the new seal, but would understand if it was too much. When the other nodded with a smile, Sen continued. "You can choose the place where you want it. I would advise an easily accessible place, but I can place it wherever you want, be it arm, chest or leg. It's your choice."

Hirota opened his yukata and pointed at his sternum. "Then here."

Sen nodded and placed his hand flat on Hirota's sternum. "You may feel discomfort, but it will only last for the ten seconds I need to put the seal on you. Then you should feel nothing more." Sen concentrated the chakra in the palm of his hand and in less than ten seconds a new seal was now present on Hirota's chest. "All done."

Hirota then turned around and was swamped by all the Hyuagas that wanted to inspected his forehead and chest, nearly divesting him from his cloth. Sen then looked at the two still sitting next to him; Minato watching the scene with a smile while Kuchina grinned at him with a thumb up.

"That had been a risky bet, Kuchina." Sen scolded.

"Yeah, but what a result!" the woman laughed.

Sen barely had the time to shake his head when he was suddenly bombarded with requests on all part to remove their cursed seal. He promised he would do the most he could today with the help of Kuchina and Minato and promised to come back the following days if needed. The three worked hard to remove every seal they could before Minato had his chakra reserve empty and even Kuchina and Sen were starting to feel the strain. They left late that night, all three exhausted but proud of what they did. They had taught the new seal to every member present who had knowledge in Fuinjutsu and promised to assist them in performing it tomorrow, when they would have removed the lasts cursed seals,

"That…" Minato started, "was exhausting."

"We still have work awaiting us tomorrow, Namikaze. You better rest well tonight." Sen informed him.

"You know; you can call me Minato. We know each other well by now and you already call Kuchina by her first name."

"We will see… Namikaze." Sen smiled as Minato dropped his head in defeat with his girlfriend laughing and hit energetically his back. Kuchina was just proposing to go celebrate by all going out to eat some ramen when someone called Sen's name. Sen recognized Hirota's voice and told the two to go already and not wait for him as he turned to face his Anbu's friend. "Hirota. I wasn't expecting you to be…" Sen stopped talking when he was pulled into a hug. Not knowing how to react, he gave little light comforting taps on the back of the man hugging him. That had been unexpected. Hirota wasn't effusive when showing appreciation as most Anbus – at the exception of Tiger, who was hug-friendly and very demonstrative – and would at most give someone a pat on the shoulder as thanks.

"Thank you," the white-eyed man said on the shoulder his bare forehead was resting on. He then pulled away and hit Sen with a fist on the top of his head. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming here today? I would have supported you. And you didn't even tell me you were working on a new seal for my clan. I should have known something was strange when you asked to see my curse seal. Why didn't you say anything?" 

Sen rubbed the abused spot on his head. It was disturbing to see the usually composed and calm Hyuga ranting at him. "I… how to say it? I was working on my own, in my free time, on this pet project. I didn't want to give you false hope, since I didn't know how long it would take me and I didn't want your clan to learn about what I was working on. You saw how they reacted when they learned I did the seal. Clans don't like outsiders getting their nose in their business."

Hirota had to grant him that. Even if Sen was a fellow Anbu, it was true that Hirota would have reported to the head of his clan about someone studying the seal they used, even if he himself approved. They are his family and he would always prioritize them. So, he could understand why Sen didn't tell him. "But why didn't you tell me that you wanted to present your seal to the clan, then?"

Sen shrugged. "I thought only the council would be present. Had they rejected, then it would have been pointless to tell you. But I'm sorry if I have offended you in some way."

The Hyuga closed his eyes, rubbing his bare forehead with a finger as he lightly shook his head. "No. You have nothing to apologize for. You were right and I can't blame you to have done so."

Sen couldn't help but tap Hirota's bare and unmarred forehead with two fingers. "Then stop nagging and let me go sleep."

Sen resumed his walk to the Anbus' quarter, leaving behind a bemused Hyuga that went back to his home with a small smile.

:----------------------------------------------------------:

At the Anbus' quarter, everyone was running around to see Hawk as this one came this time with his headband hanging around his neck. Their little team was circling him, touching his forehead and asking him question about his seal. Hirota smiled and batted hands away as he explained that the clan had changed the seal they were using to prevent the steal of the Byakugan. They all cheered and proposed to go celebrate the happy event. Sen refused, as his usual, but this time it was because he had promised to go back to the Hyuga's compound in the afternoon. As the first there, Sen went back to work and was quickly joined by Minato and Kuchina. He was surprised when Hizashi requested him personally to remove his cursed seal.

"I wanted to talk to you," Hizashi said as he sat before the masked Anbu.

"I have guessed so, otherwise you would have accepted Kuchina's offer to remove your seal." He waited for the other to finish talking before he could focus on removing the seal. Even if he had done such a quantity in such little time to be now at ease with the process, he preferred to be completely concentrated to be sure to not make any mistakes as they would be fatal.

"I wanted first to thank you for your help…" Hizashi started but Sen could definitely hear the 'but' hanging in the air. "but I wanted to hear your true reason in doing so."

"That's what I hate about you clans," Sen shook his head. "You kept your secrets so tight close that you can't help but see anyone outside of your oh so precious family as suspicious. Is it so hard to believe that someone could help just from kindness of heart? Does anyone had to have a reason for helping? If this practice had been done outside of a clan it would have been seen as just an abject crime, but it is allowed here since you are a clan. You have seen children who had been applied this seal in your own family but had done nothing; even accepted it. I was just so disgusted that I couldn't not do something. How could they accept to do such thing to tear apart twins, even? And it's not only the Hyuga. Uchiha, Aburame, they are all the same. None get a choice and we allow it. Because they are clans." He then pointed at the man's headband. "Now remove this before I get too riled up to perform."

Hizashi quickly complied and stayed quiet as Sen's chakra invaded his skin. It was only when the other removed his fingers that he continued to talk. "I understand that our practice can be seen as barbaric to none-clan people, but it is the only way we have to make sure no one will try to steal our Dojutsu."

Sen sighed loudly. "That's not… ok, let me give you an example. If a Hyuga went to marry someone outside your clan. How would your people react?"

Hizashi frowned in confusion. "It would be frowned on, but not completely disapproved."

"Now, if that couple had a son and let imagine this one doesn't have the Byakugan. How would you act toward that child?"

This time Hizashi grimace. "That child would not be accepted as part of the clan."

"Correct. Just because he was born without a Dojutsu, that child will be denied half of his family. He will be ignored, shunned, banned to the clan's knowledge and denied his family's heritage. Will never get a chance to prove himself just because he doesn’t have those pretty white eyes you cherish so much. Do you see where I'm getting?" When the other only bowed his head in silent, Sen continued. "And it's just the same with the Uchiha. If a kid doesn't present with a Sharingan before a certain age, they are considered worthless and discarded. Why bother teaching anything to someone that doesn't have their precious Sharingan. The Aburame? Just after birth the babies are made living-nests to bugs without thinking that they could wish something else. And let's not even dream to see an Amikishi wanting to be slim. What would the clan say? How would their parents react to their choice? What a disgrace! No, we have to make sure the clan's heritage and knowledge stay inside the clan to the people that deserve it!" Sen was shouting by the end as he banged the ground with a fist. He looked up as he panted to see Hizashi watching him with wide eyes. He cleared his throat as he composed himself back. "My apologize. I got carried away."

Hizashi watched the masked Anbu in silence before speaking. "I see the politic of clans is a sensitive subject for you…"

"No it's just… so sad. Your own father, the head of your clan at that time, branded you with a seal, tearing two identical twins apart. An I can bet you would have let them do the same to your still unborn child. If I had anymore tears in this body, I would cry a sea for all those children, you included. And the worst is they don’t even see the harm they do…"

"I see…" Hizashi nodded. "I have no words to thank you for your help."

"It's nothing. We are all part of the same village, after all."

After Sen applied the new seal on the Hyuga's left arm, this one took the opportunity to ask him one last question that had been running in his head since the other started his explanation. "Are you perhaps part of a clan?"

"I have no affiliation. I'm just Sen, the Anbu. Nothing more, nothing less. Now if you are done, I still have others I need to take care of."

"Right." Hizashi stood up to leave the room. "Thank you again, Sen the Anbu."

After having taken care of all the Branch family, Sen proposed to add the seal to the Main family as precaution. It was just so that they would be safer, just in case, but in true Sen wanted to erase any distinction from the two part of the clan. His proposition was welcomed with approval.

Sen went to visit the Hatakes the following day and was as usually greeted enthusiastically by Obito.

"I heard from someone that you came in help to the Hyuga's clan," Sakumo said as they were all eating. 

"I see Minato can't keep his mouth shut," Sen tsked as he lifted his mask over his mouth to eat some fish.

"Oh?" Obito turned his head to face his Uncle. "Did you help them with a mission?"

"No," Sen lowered his mask so he could see Obito through the eye-holes. "They had a nasty seal put on some members of their clan. I proposed them a new one that would be less… fatal instead."

"You can create seal? Like Minato?" Obito watched his Uncle with wide eyes.

"Well, I studied hard to manage it. That's why you should study a lot at school too. Even if it can be boring, you will learn a lot that could help you and other." Sen was about to raise his mask when Obito came up with other questions about the seal he invented and he had to put aside eating to look at him. It was at that moment that Kakashi out a frustrated sigh.

"This is ridiculous," The silver-haired boy said as he harshly lowered his own mask. Everyone looked at his bared face with astonishment, Obito's mouth hanging so wide that some food dropped down from it back on his plate. "There. Now you remove your mask too. You promised!"

Sen stayed silent for a moment. "I never technically promised anything."

"WHAT?" Kakashi screamed indignantly, the down turn of his mouth now clearly visible.

Sen's fingers rested on his mask in hesitation before Sakumo smiled at him.

"You can show Kakashi, you know. You can trust every person in this room to not want you harm."

"I know I can trust him. It's just… I don't know if it is appropriate to show my face while we are eating."

Sakumo, who was sitting next to Sen, rested a hand on his shoulder. "I told you it's not as bad as you think. Trust me."

Sen hesitated a moment longer before slowly removing completely his mask. He could see the choke clearly visible in Kakashi's face without his mask hiding half of it. Kakashi's eyes rounded as they moved around the scarred part of his face, mouth opening in surprise. Sen grimaced, about to put back his mask, when Sakumo cleared his throat, pulling his son out of his entrancement who looked down at his plate as he stuffed his mouth with food.

"I was expecting worst," Kakashi said when he was composed again, making Sen snort and drop his mask on the table. "No, really. It just looks pretty painful. And your left eye surprised me the most."

"If you say so," Sen ate a bit of rice. "You were hiding one cute mole under your mask."

Kakashi grumbled as he lowered his head until his chin touched his chest in an attempt to hid his mole. Sen looked at Obito, who was eating his meal as if nothing, and then at Sakumo. The man was just looking at him with such a proud and admirative look that Sen felt color raise on his cheeks.

"Stop looking at me," Sen said between bits.

"Why not? It's only natural to look when you see something pretty."

Sen heard Kakashi cough as he choked on his food at the sudden comment and Sen couldn't help but look at the other man with eyebrows raised high on his forehead. It was Obito that broke the sudden silence after helping Kakashi with slapping his back.

"Are you flirting with Uncle?"

"Well, I already said that I found him handsome, so why not?" Sakumo smiled at the scarred man.

"What none sense are you saying?" Sen asked with frown.

"I'm just saying that I wouldn't mind going out on a date with you without Henge."

"But…" Obito continued. "Don't you like girls?"

"Yeah," Sen nodded. "Aren't you straight?"

"One doesn't have to be straight to marry a woman. I'm actually bi and have no problem in saying I like men too."

Kakashi banged his head on the table. "Can we not talk about that now? I don't want to know about the sexual preference of my own father."

"What's bi?" Obito asked the other boy, making this one groan and Sakumo laugh.

"You are right. It's not the most appropriate moment to talk about that. Let's resume our meal."

After the meal, Obito convinced his Uncle to stay watch a movie on the TV. The two children sat on the ground while the adults took the sofa. It was in the middle of the movie that Sen felt an arm rest on the backrest behind him. He paid it no mind at first, but then a hand dropped on his shoulder. He looked at the man, his face still mask-free, but the other was just looking at the screen. He tried to lean away, but the hand tightened its grip, preventing him from moving. After a moment, when Sen had again relaxed, Sakumo slowly pulled him against him until their shoulder touched. Sen felt his face heat up at the bold move. He had never had someone flirt with him like this before. When he was a child he was just too dorky to interest any girl and after that, any women who got a glimpse of his face would run away. It had never crossed his mind that a man could want to seduce him. It was just too surreal. At the end of the movie, Sen bolted up, put on his mask and gave a short farewell before leaving.

"Was I too bold?" Sakumo mussed aloud.

Obito stood up in front of the sitting man with his hands on his hips and a frown on his face. "What are your intentions with my Uncle?"

Sakumo was baffled by the sudden question while Kakashi sputtered.

"Where did you learn that sentence?" Kakashi asked as he blinked at his friend.

"I heard it in a TV show." Obito said proudly, making Sakumo laugh and Kakashi facepalm.

"I think you are watching too much TV," Sakumo grinned.

"Well, we didn't have a TV at granny's house. But you didn't answer my question!" The boy pointed out.

"My intentions huh?" Sakumo mussed as he took the remote to shut the TV. "I just want to make him happy. He is a good guy, after all."

Obito beamed at the reply while Kakashi pulled his mask until it hid his face entirely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for those who waited this chapter, but better late than never, right? ...RIGHT??!!  
> Hope you like this chapter. Once I get some time (probably in my Chirstmas vacancy) I will think about drawing Sen's Anbu team if people are interested to know what they look like.  
> ... Or I can leave it to your imagination.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Not all lines are straight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25541992) by [Shinkan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shinkan/pseuds/Shinkan)




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